Avatar of Liberty
by NamThunder
Summary: The Elder's last hope, the Exodus, was launched during XCOM's final assault on the underwater fortress. The last Ethereal and Avatar, designated as Noah, had to led the crew of the Exodus to find new allies. But they did not expect who and what they will meet in this Kropulu Sector.
1. NEW SPACE, NEW SHIP, NEW CREW

Chapter 1 - NEW SPACE, NEW SHIP, NEW CREW

" **Greetings"**

A lone Ethereal stared at a psionic projection in his quarters, sitting on an open pod meant to be his bed. The display of the Elder was on it. Its voice, however, was not very pleased. It was more to sorrow of farewell.

" **If you are hearing this message… then our fear had came true. The Commander had overthrown us once again. Our plan, the Avatar Project, is officially terminated. The Humans had rejected our gifts and warnings. They are killing those left on Earth as you are listening to our final message."**

He deeply sighed. He shifted his gaze over a pod holding an Avatar.

" **The Avatar before you is the last one, as so are you"** The psionic feed continued. " **Although they had forbid us from Earth, the great threat still looms toward Earth."** The feed swapped to a view of the galaxy map (one that the Ethereals had explored so far). " **We have sent you away on this ship when the psionic network failed. Your objective is to seek out, explore, and find new allies to help us reclaim Earth and prepared the Humans for the incoming threat."**

" **The Avatar we given you will be known as Noah. Take it as it will be your new identity for the rest of your lifespan as well. The ship you are on is named the Exodus. You have a skeleton crew to command and operate this vessel, as it is a quick work done by our engineers."**

The Elder halted as they heard an explosion in a room nearby. " **XCOM is here for us. I'm afraid this will be the last time we speak to each other. As their Spokesman once said… Good luck, commander. And farewell"**

The message ended. Noah palmed his mask with all of his hands. They failed, defeated. He knew that one day the Humans will rebel, but never had he thought they would ended up like this.

He glared up at the Avatar again. He was still here. And the threat was still out there. He had to finish this.

Only he can.

* * *

Noah was having a hard time walking. The healthy humanoid shape of the Avatar was a different experience. He could barely adapted to it after years of being having degraded muscular system. He didn't need to be cautious of his step too much.

He was exploring the Exodus. He was never briefed about the crew and its capability, so it was best to go to the bridge and talk to the captain of this ship. He did saw some Sectoids walking around, Cyberdisks maintaining the electrical circuits, Mutons and Vipers doing supply check. He knew they were chosen, or signed up to be on this craft.

He stepped on to the bridge. There, he was greeted by a Viper. She was wearing a T-shirt with ADVENT logo branded on it. "Welcome to the bridge of the Exodus" The voice was rather blunt.

" **You don't seem to respect me that much"** Noah spoke.

"Sorry" The Viper replied "It just… it's been difficult for all of us. Losing to the Humans. Again. And now, they rose up and killed most of the Elders. My sisters are still on Earth. Probably dead by now"

Noah could feel sorrow. " **Humans may have deny us now, but our goal still holds"** he said " **We will search for a new ally and help in defeating the great threat, and perhaps bring back the Humans to our fold"**

The Viper shrugged. "Better be. We're in what the Human would said as 'shit hit the fan'" she implied.

" **You seemed to know a lot about Humans"** Noah noted.

"Perks of being a so-called Thin Man once" the Viper answered "Got a lot of chances to talk with them before abducting them. I went by the name of Naga, and I have been calling by that name ever since."

" **Naga… suitable"** Noah nodded. The Vipers did look like the Human's mythological creature called Naga. " **And is that why you prefered to wear Human garment?"**

"I envied them, to be honest" Naga spoke "I just dislike how the Elders do things. We could have just talk, but no, we just got to go in and kidnap them. I'm not proud of it"

" **I too dislike the approach"** Noah said " **But they shot down our ships during our surveys. We don't know if they are going to shoot our diplomats when we landed there."**

"At least we could have tried." Naga argued.

The room then fell silent. All of the crew seemed to be burdened by more that just the defeat. Noah sighed deeply. " **How many crew we have?"** he asked. " **The Elders told me we have a handful of crew"**

Naga brought up a datapad. "A couple of Sectoids, Vipers, Mutons, Cyberdisks, Berserkers, and Chryssalids. However, we do have a cloning chamber installed, so shortage in recruits should not be a problem. However, we cannot spare any of the non-cloned crew. We are all that is left." She stowed it away. "I suggest you go talk to chief engineer Gravac and our head scientist Biggs."

Noah nodded. " **I was going to meet them, anyway. Fly safely"**

* * *

Biggs the Sectoid was peaking into a microscope, studying a SPARK wreckage they managed to get before their departure. He was amazed by this Raymond Shen. He built a completely mechanized unit for XCOM to use, and its performance outweighs how the SHIVs do in the field.

The door of his lab hissed open. Noah marched in. "Oh, did not see you coming in, Great One."

" **You can drop the title. It's just Noah now, Biggs."** Noah replied.

"To most crew, you still are the Great One" Biggs pointed out. "There is no denying that." He breathed deeply. "Anyway, welcome to the lab. I've noticed how the Humans managed to gain our technology, and improvised it with theirs. Got to give them credit, they did beat us with it. We're just too busy processing Humans. What was her name again…? Something Vahlen…?"

For once, Noah could agree. They had never developed anything for their army despite XCOM's constant adaptation. " **So I hope you're the one who would do that."**

"Yes, as the former ADVENT scientist Richard Tygan once do." Biggs nodded. "If you managed to find any new technology, bring it to me, and I will see what I can do"

A sound of gunfire came from the deck below. "Guess Gravac already testing the weapons we brought. Go meet him quick, Great One. He wasn't a man of patience."

* * *

Noah expected this Gravac to at least be another Sectoid.

He was met with a well-built Muton, armed with a plasma rifle. He fired a few shots, testing out its functionality. It put it down after shooting, and moved on to the next gun. He kept doing until Noah pushed a toolbox down from the bench by accident.

"I was wondering if you've miss me, Noah" Gravac spoke, lowering the weapon.

" **You knew what I am to be called soon?"** Noah asked. He had never tell anyone about it.

"I wasn't that dumb, you know." Gravac grunted. "I did overheard you and your talk with the Elders. May they rest in peace." He turned to Noah, revealing scars of battle on his armor. "This is the engineering, and I, Gravac, am the chief engineer of this vessel. If you need to upgrade our weapons and armors, talk to me, and we'll see."

Noah was betting on a catch. " **There's something we need first before we could get those, right?"  
** "Yes it is" Gravac nodded. "Although we can produce Elerium and alloys on our own, the most crucial is the supplies. That's the part we lack. Once you got enough, looking at the kiosk and see what is your poison"

" **You wanted to kill me?"** Noah asked.

"No. It's a Human slang" Gravac spoke "It means 'what is your favorites'. Humans said that a lot when go to the bars. Got to say, they do make a good drink"

Noah just stayed silent. He had never drink any of those intoxicating fluids before, but he wished he could have one to sate his depression now.

* * *

"So, what do we got?" Naga asked her adjudant.

"The planet was life-sustainable." said the adjudant "There is also signs of settlements. Seems like we're not the first to be here. Should we charge up the guns."

"No, just land the ship." Naga ordered "I'll asked the Great One of our next approach.

The Exodus descended down the atmosphere. They got closer to the surface, passing a sign.

"Welcome to Mar Sara."


	2. MEET THE RAIDERS

Chapter 2 - MEET THE RAIDERS

It was fortunate that the ship ran on Elerium. They fuel was limitless. But if it goes out, there was always solar energy in reserves.

Perimeter were set up once touchdown was made. Engine powered down to cooling. Sensors were on overtime scanning the surround area.

"Sir, ma'am! We're picking up something"

Noah and Naga watched the monitor. An image of a mining facility was displayed. There was a minor defense set up, and the defenders were…

"Humans…" Naga gasped. "Guess they are finally spacefaring"

" **Forgot to asked, how long was we out?"** Noah asked.

Naga counted the numbers. "Half a millenium at estimate."

The Humans really travel in space about 500 years ago, and they got to this planet first. They were stepping up their cards. " **Better stay put for now…"** he suggested.

"There's also a strange energy signature emitting from the mine." the adjutant informed. "It looks… ancient"

When looking at the entrance, a soldier was shooting at an unarmed civilian. "Sir, they're killing each other!"

"That never happened before" Naga commented.

Noah smirked with disgust. He had seen a mind-controlled Human kill their kin, but never did he saw them willingly kill each other for no reason. EXALT was exceptions. They went to war with XCOM, shooting only XCOM personnels. This, they just straight up shooting a fleeing civilian.

He could not stand this senseless murder. " **Gravac, how's our weapons?"**

"None were ready, Noah" Gravac replied. "We are low on plasma cells right now. We only have enough for one to spare."

Noah nodded. " **Get them for me"** He walked out of the bridge. He went to his room and grabbed his exclusive plasma rifle, designed just for the Avatar to use. " **I'm going in."**

* * *

Raynor's Raiders were building up their army. Mass of Marines and Medics gathered on the road to the mining site.

James Raynor was informed about a settlement under attack by the Dominion. As the leader of this rebellion, he had to show that the Raiders were willing to help people from the Dominion's grasp.

"This artifact better be worth it, Tychus" he spoke, watching the operation from Joey Ray's Bar.

"I'm sure it will, partner" said Tychus Findley, Raynor's partner in crime. He smoked his cigar as he watched with Raynor.

Soon, the adjutant just announced. "Warning: Class 12 psionic pattern detected."

Raynor's face went pale. There was one person he knew well to have that much psionic. He hoped it wasn't her.

"Damn, Jimmy. Look at him go" Tychus still kept his eyes on the screen.

Raynor looked at Tychus, then at the screen. A he? At least it wasn't her, so that was a relief.

At the settlement near the excavation site, a Humanoid figure was taking defense positions. He wore a completely black jumpsuit. His face was hidden under a purple visor mask.

But other than that, there were a few things that explain this person was not belong to any Terran factions.

One, all of his hair were straight up, and it waved softly even in the wind. Tumbleweed rolled and windmill spun. Clear there was wind, but his hair defied it. He clearly did not use hair gel for sure.

Two, his weapon was foreign in design. It fired purple beams. Terran may already had energy weapon in their arsenal, but the scale was way too large and too expensive for common soldiers.

Three, on his back was a device of foreign design. A handle on one end, and a sort of energy orb in the other. Raynor had never seen that kind of device before.

A Hellion approached him. He seemed to brought up the device, and hovered one of his hand on the energy orb. He rubbed over it for a while, and pushed out.

A purple line lashed out and pierced through the Hellion's hull with ease. It exploded violently, shattered into scrap metals. The line continued on, ending at a Dominion Marine near a bunker.

"He seemed to stay and protect the civilians" Raynor noticed. He turned to Tychus. "Suit up, Tychus. We're going in"

"Was that a joke, Jimmy?" that was Tychus' response, considering that he was already in his armor.

* * *

He had held back two waves alone. Got to admit, this Avatar was much more suitable in combat than his Ethereal form.

People from the settlement began to talk about this stranger defender who came out of nowhere. A lot of talks were made, but all was changed when one shouted.

"Hey! It's Raynor's boys!"

Noah turned around. He was greeted by a group of Human in the armor that had the size of an MEC. Their guns was as big as well. Out of them, two were distinctive. One was wearing blue, like many soldiers behind them, but there was a picture of a female with gun sitting over a black spade pasted on his shoulder guard. Second was wearing black armor with a skull visor. Noah did not need psionics to know that these two were the higher ups of these soldiers.

" **Let me guess. You must be this Raynor people talked about"** he began, talking to the one in black.

The skull visor lifted, revealed a face of a male Human. His face showed confusion. "That would be me" he said, opening his hands, waiting to shake. "The name's James Raynor. You?"

" **Noah. Just… Noah"** Noah spoke, accepting the handshake. He was still trying to get use to his new identity. " **It is an honor to meet the hero in this part of the universe."**

"Well, someone got to step up and set examples for these colonists" Raynor replied. "Prove that Dominion can be beaten"

" **Dominion?"** Noah asked " **You mean the red armored soldiers?"**

Now Raynor was suspicious. A strange Terran out of nowhere had never heard of the Dominion. Even the UED knew about the Dominion.

"Kid, just where the hell did you come from?" as if on queue, Tychus opened his visor and asked. His hands still firmly touched the gun with distrust.

Noah shook his head. " **We are… Well, our origin is not like yours. I may look like a Human, but I am not"**

"And just how the hell you know what a Human is?" Tychus continued. His grip was tighter now. His face showed killer's eyes. His gun was a little higher.

"Tychus, stand down!" Raynor put his arm in between. Knowing Tychus, he will aim the gun next, and then the trigger at the last step.

Tychus kept his frown. He relaxed his tone and posture. His stare daggered into Noah.

Raynor sighed in relief. It could have gone worse. "Sorry about that" Raynor apologized. "But if what you're saying is true, then what are you?"

Noah did not reply. He just turned to the mining site and thought. A minute later, he turned and answered. " **I am an Avatar, and that's all you need to know. I have little interest in the artifact us ahead. And if you ask, I saw it when my ship landed."**

Raynor accepted it. He signaled his Marines to charge forward. The Medics then followed up. Then the noise of battle boomed.

As the sound of gunfire faded in the distance, Tychus leaned to him. "I don't trust him, Jimmy" he whispered.

"Neither to I" Raynor replied. "But if we want to gain trust, we have to go with the flow" He then turned to Noah. "If you don't mind, we could use your help. Consider it as a trust test"

Noah nodded. " **Then let's not wait any longer"**

* * *

All of Exodus' crew watched Noah from the recon drone. Many were really phased by the Human. Only a few, mostly Mutons, Berserkers, and Chryssalids, did not. Human's prowess in battle meant nothing to them, as long as they can kill them.

"Their armor is tough" Gravac commented. "It had the strength of an MEC. And their rifles tore through vehicle like flesh."

"Their Medics… heals others with a gun…" Biggs wondered "Could we develop that for our uses?"

"They had clearly evolve from our first encounter" Naga noted. "You see those construction vehicles? They mine and build facilities. We could quarantine the Losts in mere days without sending in Purification Squad. We could use those things"

Gravac and Biggs looked at each other. Their thoughts seemed to merge together. Time to get the engineers and scientists busy.

* * *

Raynor invited Noah to the bar. There, they sat down. Before they could discuss, UNN began their broadcast.

As Noah listened to Kate Lockwell and Donny Vermillion, the male reminded him of ADVENT Spokesperson. They had always claimed one thing, but truth was always another.

" **This Kate Lockwell… she just wanted the truth"** he commented.

"Sure is. Mengsk had put up so much lies and propaganda to cover up his dirty crimes and schemes" Raynor agreed, pouring a glass. "You drink?"

" **I… don't"** Noah refused. Avatar was designed for combat. It was best not to ruin its properties and performance now, since it was the last one.

Raynor sipped one down. Tychus decided to go outside for a smoke. Noah turned his attention to the pin up board. Raynor Raiders poster, picture of people with the remains of the creatures he never seen before… Raynor really covered wars.

What caught his eyes the most was an image of a red hair woman. The photo itself… he could feel strong connection to Raynor. Something must have happened to her.

" **Who is she?"** he asked. " **If you decided to put it on here, then she meant a lot to you"**

Raynor turned to him. "That's… that is…"

" **I can read minds, so don't lie"** Noah warned.

"My crush. Sarah" Raynor explained. "She was one of the finest Ghost. Most powerful psionic even. She was lost to the damn Zerg, and I could do nothing but watch as Mengsk pulled out his troops."

" **So is that why you rebel?"** Noah asked.

Raynor shook his head. "No. The revolution is about saving lives. On the day she… died, it was the same day Mengsk murdered a planet, and called it justice."

Noah began to hate this Mengsk. The Elders treated Humans better than him. " **So he uses the Zerg. What is it?"**

"That. It is best if you don't know" Raynor answered. "Trust me. Once you see thousands of them Zerg swarming over you, you will know true fear"

Noah nodded and returned to his seat. Then his comms picked up something. He turned to a corner as Tychus came in.

"I've got a transport coming to pick us up" Raynor said "All we got to do is sit tight"

Meanwhile, Noah was talking to Naga. " **What is it?"**

"Avatar Noah, we've just picked up a new lifeforms." Naga explained. Her wordings were rushed. "They are dropping from orbit!"

Raynor's adjutant then announced. "Commander, I'm detecting massive concentration of Zerg bio-signatures landing at the abandoned dig site." On the screen, organic shaped pods were hitting the ground, releasing creatures out of it.

"I should have know it! Damn you, Tychus!" Raynor cursed.

"I swear, man. I didn't know nothing about the damn Zerg" Tychus defended.

According to Raynor's adjutant, the Zerg will overrun this place within an hour. Luckily, Raynor had already set up defenses with bunkers and anti-air missile towers. All they needed to do was to hold their ground until evac arrives.

" **Gravac"** Noah asked over the radio. " **How's our army?"**

"Sectoid Soldiers are ready to deploy, Noah" Gravac replied. "They won't do much, but their mind merge should help our new companion. Also, translators were already finished, so communication won't be a problem now."

Noah nodded. " **Good. Get them up and ready. We're in this"**

* * *

 **Research report: SCV**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

These 'Terrans' are resourceful. Their machine use in construction and harvesting was just amazing. They are mobile, and their construction process is fast in comparison to how we did back on Earth. It would took minutes to build a facility, which would makes sense for these units to be frontline workers.

I believed that if we reprogram the Cyberdisk, then we can have a construction unit in no time. I know, we don't do that, but we are not on Earth. This is a new environment. We have to adapt, just like how XCOM did.

 **Research report: Minerals**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

The blue crystal we saw the SCV mining is mineral. It was considered as an army currency, as it was used to manufacture many things. More surprisingly, the upgrades and manufactures can be organic as well.

After several tests, only Cyberdisk can mine these minerals. Other tools became broken during the mining process.

These minerals should help cover our low supply problem, as it worth a lot in comparison.

 **Research report: Vespene gas**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

The green gas smoking out of the geysers are called Vespene by the Terrans. These gas can be use for a more sophisticated structures, units, and upgrades. To properly harvest this gas, however, we need a proper way to collect this gas.

After discussing with Chief Engineer Gravac, we can design a containment and dispensing facility. We had decided to install a force field projector on the Cyberdisk Constructors, so they can collect the gas.

* * *

 **Gravac Armory report**

New Unit unlocked: **Sectoid Soldier**

Cost: 50 Minerals

Like the standard Sectoids before the fall of XCOM, they are armed with light plasma wrist gun. Although they are Human-size now thanks to DNA splicing, they performed well in the field.

The mind merge should help boosting an ally's stats. Now with Human DNA fused in their body, it should have no problem in mind merging with the Terrans. However, the same risk still remains. If the merging Sectoid died, the one that was linked with will die as well.

Sectoid Soldiers cannot use mindspin or mind control, as it was traded for slightly more durability. However, the ability to raise the dead remains available. Wonder how would the 'Terran' react.

New Unit unlocked: **Cyberdisk Constructor**

Cost: 75 Minerals

Cyberdisk reprogrammed to build structures and harvest resources, just like how the Terrans do. However, their armor is reduced by a large amount, making them weaker by a half. But it should not be a problem. They are not programmed and equipped to fight, but they can if they have to.

Note that it cannot do repairs. Repair Drones will do that for them, and as a machine, healing will not work. Suggest pairing it with at least one Repair Drone for full performance and efficiency.

New Upgrade unlocked: **Repair Drone**

Cost: 75 Minerals and 75 Vespene per Cyberdisk Constructor

After the Invasion, the Drone were considered way too weak to defend themselves. Now we only programmed them to do repairs only. They cannot engage in combat, but should do repairs for the most of the time.

Pairing it up with the Cyberdisk Constructor should give them the ability to repair structures and robots alike. This includes self-repairs.

* * *

 **Gravac Construction report**

New Building unlocked: **Psi-Command Centre** \- Train Cyberdisk Constructors here. Collect resources.

New Building unlocked: **Cloning Facility** \- Train ground combat and support units here

New Building unlocked: **Vespene Plant** \- Allow Vespene gas to be harvest by Cyberdisk Constructors. Must be build on Vespene geyser.

New Building unlocked: **Cryo Pod** \- Increase population capacity per Cryo Pod constructed.

New Building unlocked: **Field Laboratory** \- Enable ground unit and structure upgrades

New Building unlocked: **Defense Platform** \- Strong defensive building. If there is a unit garrison in there, it will attack the incoming enemy in its radius while provided them safety from incoming attack. Require Cloning Facility.

New Building unlocked: **AA Laser Turret** \- Air defense turret, utilizing SHIV's laser gun design. Detector. Require Field Laboratory


	3. ESCAPE FROM MAR SARA

Chapter 3 - ESCAPE FROM MAR SARA

The sky began to have mixture of flying Zergs. Ground Zergs began to devour anything in their way. Creep began to spread out.

Raynor wasted no time fortifying their defense. In some occasions, he sent a squad out to rescue those who were still out there. Bunkers were constructed and garrisoned. It will be a long time to hold off these things.

Raynor turned to see Noah, all armed up. "I thought you came with a ship" he said.

Noah shook his head. " **The sky is too hostile with those flyers. Our ship won't last before it goes into FTL. It was a miracle we made it here."**

It was true. There were Mutalisk's projectiles embedded in the hull of the Exodus. "Well then" Raynor implied "We'll wait until the Hyperion comes. It's defense should brought you enough time to jump, perhaps at the same time with us"

" **I know we will have to hold out until then. Thus, I'm sending down some of my people to support you"** Noah spoke.

Raynor watched the hangar bay opened. Marching out of it was a naked humanoid creature with a device on their wrist. Its head, however, was what could reminded him of the alien in the remake version of E.T. Its skin was tan cream, like Humans. Raynor suspected that this was not how it was originally was.

" **Introducing the Sectoid Soldier."** Noah resumed. " **Although their anatomy is weak, their strength lies in their psionic. They can merge minds, improving the performance of the bonded partner. They can also raise the dead"**

Now Raynor was being wary. Noah just gave out a necromancer to help their defense. Something was really wrong about these aliens. He just couldn't tell what.

"Well, for now, it will do" he replied. "Appreciate the help, by the way. I'm sure our boys could relax down seeing your men helping us fighting the Zerg."

" **You are welcome, Raynor"** Noah said.

And so, they deployed. Many Marines almost pulled the trigger seeing the Sectoids for the first time. After a few talks, they calmed and returned to defensive position.

And then came the swarm.

Bullets and plasma rays flew across the two bridges. Zerglings began rushing towards the bunkers. Some claws managed to scratch, but not enough to do the real damage to the soldiers inside.

But as usual for the Zerg, their numbers grew as each wave passed.

"This is getting too much!" said a Marine.

A Sectoid Soldier noticed the complaint. "I'll help. Let's merge"

Purple aura pulsed from its skull. It then lashed out towards the Marine. Suddenly, the Marine felt a boost, an influx of energy. It was as if he had took a stimpak, but with no side effects. He pulled a shot off and hit a newly arrived Hydralisk before it could slid on the pavement.

"Whoa!" he grinned as the mind merge subsided. "This is some strange good shit here! Do it again."

"Give me a break, will you?" the Sectoid begged with tiredness. "I can't do that often"

Meanwhile, some Sectoids had tried lifting dead Zerg back up. Attempt was proven to be rather difficult, however. Controlling them became a challenge. When they rose, the Sectoids could not control. It was as if a stronger mind was in control of the Zerg.

The Medics just stood with awe. These Sectoids were playing mind games.

* * *

At the back of the line, the SCV drivers were looking as the Cyberdisk Constructors doing their work. They were told that these things costed much more than the SCV themselves, but their efficiency was proven flawless. They harvested twice the amount than what an SCV could carry. They built structures much faster too, but they could not do any repairs at all without its drone companion.

Because of this, some SCV changed their job to repair and reinforce the defense. The Cyberdisk Constructors were able to stock up Minerals fast enough to keep up with the constant troops being trained.

Gravac was proud. At least, in some way, they could still remain superior than the Humans.

* * *

Shell casings clattered the floors. Ammo clip being inserted. Plasma cells ejected from the gun and bounced on the ground. Sectoid Soldiers continuously casted mind merge with the Marines. Medics doubled their efforts in healing. SCVs kept on fixing the damages to the bunkers.

Their defense were weakening. They had already fallen back to the second defensive line. Various types of Zergs were coming without pause. Minerals were running out. If evac doesn't come soon…

Suddenly, a massive battlecruiser appeared in the sky, annihilating all Zergs down below. Raynor smiled at the sight of it, knowing one friend who he could rely on when it comes to battlecruisers

"The cavalry has arrived" Matt Horner declared his arrival.

In the Exodus, Naga began ordering evacuation. The engine began to scream as the thrusters powered up. Defense turrets began shooting any flying Mutalisks as much as it could.

On the ground, Both Raynor and Noah's men began pulling back. The artifact was secured and loaded into the Hyperion. Once all were on board the respective spacecrafts, they began to move alongside each other.

"Wait upon their mark, Matt." Raynor instructed. "They needed more time to charge the jump"

"Yes sir" Horner nodded. He then began to order their crew to prepare for warp jump as well.

Radio call from the Exodus was answered. "We're half a minute away from jumping!" Naga informed.

"Thanks for the update" Horner replied. "I'm sending the rendezvous coordinates in case you jump slower. Good luck"

Ten seconds past. Both ships were being riddled with Mutalisk's spines and Spore Crawler's spores. Some of the crew were getting injured. Breaches began to appear.

Fifteen seconds left. Horner prepared Hyperion's crew to prep for jump on his mark.

Last ten seconds. The damages were getting more and more severe. Gun turrets were getting red hot.

Five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Two

One

"Mark!"

And both ships disappeared.

* * *

At the rendezvous, the Exodus and the Hyperion appeared in a flash. All crew were still recovering from that escape. Engineers began repair at imminent.

On the Exodus, Naga was checking status. All crews were accounted for. They made it out alive on first encounter with the Zerg.

"Captain Naga, Avatar Noah. The Hyperion is hailing us" said the adjutant.

"Patch them through" Naga answered.

Video feed appeared, showing the bridge of the Hyperion. Raynor and Horner were standing in front, while Tychus towered behind them in his armor.

"That was a close one" Naga commented. "Any longer and we'll have a section in vacuum. Those Zerg… a damn nightmare"

"That's the Zerg to you" Raynor replied. He then looked at Horner, who was a bit taken by Naga's looks "But it's been four years. Why attack Mar Sara now?"

"It's not just Mar Sara, sir" Horner informed, opening various more video feeds. Many of it were mixtures of sentences, and various static. All of them were live footages from various planets. However, as the final footage drew near, all of them could feel it.

"...it is confirmed. The Queen of Blades is in fact leading the Zerg"

Raynor fell to his chair. Noah and Naga was shock by that feed. This Queen of Blades… She was formerly Human. Her body may be Zerg, but her face did not lie.

And Noah knew her. It was her, the one Raynor was grieving to. Sarah Kerrigan.

"We know she will come back someday." Horner said "But what is she after?"

Raynor knew the answer. A grim one. "She come to finish the job"

* * *

After a little reunion talks with the crews, Raynor and Horner began to talk about the important matter. They had just got a distress call from a colony on Agria from Dr. Ariel Hanson about a Zerg attack. Meanwhile, Tychus informed them about the second Xel'naga artifact whereabouts.

Then they moved on to the topic of Exodus.

"Sir, I've did some scans on our… guests... and let the adjutant ran a search in the archives" Horner explained. "One result showed up, but…"

Raynor saw a catch. "But what?"

"The file is heavily encrypted, sir. Mark as top secret. And it is about 500 years old. Way back when Humans are all on Earth" Horner resumed. "It would take a while to gain access, but it will be done eventually"

"Guess this is something Orlan cannot crack" Raynor noted. Colonel Orlan was an expert when it comes to hacking Dominion network. "But Earth… You're saying that Humanity had seen those things before? We were not colonizing planets back then"

"Clearly they have met us" Tychus spoke, eavesdropping.

"Leave us, convict" Horner grumbled. He did not trust Tychus. Not at all. He would have kicked him off, but it was Raynor's decision that let him stay.

"Go somewhere else, Tychus. This discussion is between us" Raynor insisted. Tychus then left the bridge, heading to the cantina.

The conversation then continued. "This leader, Noah… he sent down these Sectoids and Cyberdisks to help us fighting off the Zerg." Raynor mentioned "He was willing to help. That I can get by. But he is hiding something…"

"Should we get someone to read his mind, sir?" Horner suggested.

"He's a class 12 psionic, Matt. Aside from her, nothing can break his mental barrier." Raynor replied.

"If you say so" Horner said "I'll keep on decrypting the files. You should go talk to them, sir."

So Raynor parted, looking at the transmission screen. Soon, it revealed Noah. " **I assume you called me for a reason"**

"There is, Noah" Raynor replied. "I have a proposition for you"

" **What is it?"** Noah asked.

"You seemed to look for a fresh start. But the Kropulu sector is not really peaceful right now. Zerg running around. The corrupted Dominion. Not to mention the Protoss. Settling down right now might not be a good idea for your people" he scratched his hair. "So I suggest you join us instead"

Noah seemed to be intrigued. " **You wanted us to join the revolution"**

"You've earned my trust, Noah" Raynor mentioned. "You stayed and fought the Zerg instead of trying to run. Not to mention bringing along your men to help. You've done well to help us. I just wanted you to tag along a bit longer. So, will you help save people and overthrow the Dominion?"

* * *

Noah seemed to be at his dilemma because he just paced around. Raynor just gave an invitation to join the Raiders. It was a big decision, one which he had a hard time thinking through.

Joining the Humans was like a betrayal. They were enemies once. The ones who killed the Elders. The ones who drove them here.

But then again, it was a fresh start for them. They wanted to start anew. Maybe they can get along with the Humans at a better position.

So it was decided. " **We will"** Noah answered. His will was determined. " **We will help you in your campaign, Raynor. You can count on us"**

"Sure is, Noah" Raynor replied with a smile. "We'll get along just fine"


	4. LET GO AND BEGIN AGAIN

Chapter 4 - LET GO AND BEGIN AGAIN

Work went as usual down in the Exodus' engineering bay. Gravac had been pondering over the decision of including medics in the army. Come and think of it, they had never enforced any medical units. Sure, the repair drones repair Cyberdisk and Sectopods, but that was about it. They had no medics.

On one hand, they would really benefit in support. On the other hand, it will reduce their combat efficiency. It was a big dilemma.

"Something bothering you?" Biggs came into the room.

"A bit" Gravac replied. "It… It just came up. I was thinking about getting some combat medical tools. You know, like how the XCOM do in combat, with their GREMLIN. Put so much shots in the guy, only for the guy to be patched up and kill the said squad."

"You were there?" Biggs asked.

"Yes, got knocked unconscious by a grenade." Gravac mentioned. "I remembered… My teammates were injured, and we have no medical unit. So I did what best…" He took a glance over his bayoneted heavy plasma rifle. The tip of its teeth stained dried blood of the Mutons.

Biggs did thought through it. They were expendable, they knew. But ever since the psionic network went down, they began to feel the losses. In the past, they just walked over the dead. Now, many started to miss the one who died.

"Do you think the Elders care about us at all?" he asked.

Gravac snickered. "Not one bit. I've seen a trooper killed an injured Berserker and called it a mercy. But that manner was termination. Point blank pistol shot. We were already safe. Yet..."

"So you have difficulty when it comes to thinking about field medics" Biggs assumed. "To prevent the loss that we could have saved."

Gravac nodded. Silence was all that happened for a while. Biggs then left the room.

* * *

Naga glanced toward the dark void, thinking about the past. She was thinking about those left behind on Earth, memories that were slowly coming back bit by bit, piece by piece. They were all probably dead by now.

The moment she saw Noah, she turned back on her attention. However, her face was the worst at pretending.

" **What is clouding your mind?"** Noah asked.

Naga tilted away. "Nothing much" she answered. "Thinking about what we could have done instead."

" **You still grief the dead"** Noah replied.

She suddenly curled her fists, and violently turned to him with gritted fangs "You don't have the right to say that!" she hissed, catching everyone's attention. "You don't have the right to say anything about it!"

Noah went stiff. He knew this was to be expected since the psionic network collapsed. Slowly, the crew began to gain free will and thoughts. Their clouded memories began to clear up.

Naga flicked her tongue. Her eyes still daggered at him. "I once had a sister. A twin sister" she sobbed. "We were turned into Thin Men. I was sent on field duty, while she was ordered to guard the temple ship. And guess what. She died there! Died to protect you… psionic four arms!"

Everything turned quiet. Noah sighed deeply. He glared around, looking at the crew. They were staring at him in the same way: stare of resentment.

Seeing no point to argue, he just walked away. " **I will be in my chamber if you need me"**

* * *

Noah returned to his chamber, placed his rifle on the wall, and transferred his consciousness. He was soon back in his original body, the Avatar slumping on a chair lifelessly.

He glared at the Avatar, then back at himself. He then lied down on his pod, thinking deeply. Right now, to most of the crew, the Ethereals were seen as monsters, the ones who plunged them to damnation. During his walk, there were chatters during the time he walked around the ship before he reached his room. It was their fault the temple ship exploded. It was their fault Avatar project was stopped. It was their fault they were exiled here.

He could not blame them. He wasn't sure if it was the truth. But all had one in agreement. They should've been more subtle.

The doorbell rang. " **It is open"**

Biggs walked in, holding a tablet in hand. "I sense distress in your emotion. Did something go wrong?"

" **Nothing had gone wrong, Biggs"** Noah replied " **It just… the crew are beginning to recover. Began to know the past"**

"I've noticed" Biggs agreed. During his way here, the crews began to talk. "They began to ask why they fought the Humans. What were they fighting for. Why can't they remember what happened back then." So many that even Biggs himself had the similar question.

" **To think of the queries, we are all just… soldiers"** Noah said " **Pieces to be disposed of. Useless when crippled or malfunctioned. Even I had those questions, Biggs"**

Biggs took it all in. "Just remember, Great One. All the past we have, it did not matter anymore. I've heard a Human once said, it's not too late to start again. We might came in the wrong way with the Humans, but that was Earth. This is the Kropulu Sector. Basically, this may be our second chance." He then turned to leave. "Please think about it, Great One. No matter how we view you, we need you. And my loyalties lies with you, always."

Noah was left alone again. He began recalling to the past. He did face dead comrades as well. He heard various attacks on the UFO, and that was more of his known friends gone. He would take a bullet, or laser, or plasma for them it he had to, but it was clearly impossible

But Biggs was right. It wasn't his fault he couldn't save them and the rest of the crew's companions. There was nothing about Earth they can do right now. So it might be best to start anew.

"Noah" the comms blared up, sounding like Naga, cold as usual. "I've got a call from Raynor. He said he had a mission that want us to join."

Noah inhaled. His mind then transferred back to the Avatar. " **Patch him through."** he spoke as the Ethereal's pod closed up, hiding away its body.

The channel switched, revealing Raynor. "Hello again, Noah. I want to test you"

" **What's the mission?"** Noah asked.

"A rescue mission." Raynor explained. "Folks on Agria needed our help. The Dominion had left them to die by the Zerg. The Raider's goal is about saving lives. It's time to see if you are up to it."

" **Give me the coordinates."** Noah accepted the quest. " **Let's go save the Humans"** The call ended. He snickered to himself, smiling. " **Let go and begin again"**

Before he left for the bridge, however, he decided to visit Gravac. These Zergs swarmed like the Lost, and there was one thing that can deal with that mass in one go.

* * *

Gravac was thinking about a schematic for a medkit. He was looking at one of the XCOM's Nanomedkit model when Noah came in.

" **Gravac, do we have any of the ADVENT Purifier's flamethrower?"** he asked.

Gravac shook his head. "Not since they took off to the traitorous Skirmishers" he replied "However, I can and have made an improvised version" He then placed a modified Muton plasma cannon. The difference was that the power source was glowing red hot, and the bayonet was removed. They could feel the heat radiating from the barrel. "The request had been a while back from my fellow Muton brothers. So I build this" He lifted the gun up and aimed at the shooting gallery. He pulled the trigger, and a large torrent of superheated ray flew out of the barrel. "It is not a flamethrower. Rather, a focused infrared ray. Based the design on XCOM's laser weapon. Burn anything it touches…." He switched the target to a hanging corpse of a Zergling, and fired. The body began to burn, slowly charred into ashes. "And overcook organic targets. The ray, however, is unstable, so it has a very limited range. The name, Infrared Flamer."

Noah was impressed. This Muton came up with a weapon design that the Ethereals had never bothered to think of. They had never thought of variations.

"But…" Gravac was yet to finish. He lifted his palm and showed it to him. There was a burnt scar, a recent one. "The weapon itself has extreme heat, so the users must wear heat resistant armor." He then brought up a Muton armor, distinctively colored red orange. "This suit should keep the Muton users safe from the burns, or in case the gun explodes. Biggs also had already finished making fire-resistant gene mod for the Muton"

" **Plan to distribute these to the Mutons?"** Noah asked.

"Waiting for your approval" Gravac grinned, proud of his work. "And me to visit the infirmary first"

* * *

Naga heard Noah marching in. He was heading toward her, breathing in as he got closer. His psionic was empowering with confidence. When they were face to face, she was expecting something. Something other than what he spoke out.

" **I am sorry"**

Naga felt lightened by a bit. At least the Ethereals were not heartless. She relaxed her face, giving a more friendly look. "What's the next order?"

" **Set course for Agria"** Noah commanded. " **We are doing what we should have done"**

* * *

 **Research report: Zerg**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

One word. Swarm. That was enough to describe the Zerg. They were clearly not sentient. Further autopsy proven that, just like the Chryssalids, Zergs were controlled psionically. This, alongside this 'Queen of Blades' who lead the Zerg, could be proven that Zerg were like bee hive, a hierarchy system.

Looking into the tissues, there were signs of tamperments. They were all genetically altered, not naturally evolved. However, this was done without Meld. Whoever did this sure had perfection in the work.

It was the Zerg's building that fascinated me the most. They are all organic! From the rooted tentacles, to what I presumed to be their version of the command centre, or a hive. All of them are organic. But because of this, they could only grow on the surface that was covered by a substance called 'Creep'

Zergs are fastly adaptive. Records given from this 'Stetman' told us that they changes as soon as new unique biomass is consumed. But somehow, they lack variations. Four Zerglings are the same. Two Hydralisks are the same. Two Mutalisks are the same. Even ADVENT clones are different

* * *

 **Gravac Armory report**

New Unit unlocked: **Muton Pyro**

Cost: 100 Minerals and 25 Vespene.

Requirement: Proving Ground

It was a trial and error work. Designing a flamethrower that use plasma cells instead of hydrocarbon fuel was a pain. So my team turned toward XCOM's laser weapons. We modified the ray to apply extreme heat, hence the red color of the infrared ray.

The Muton Pyros were given fireproof padded armor, increasing their armor and health. They were also genetically engineered to be heat resistant to handle the heat radiated barrel. Muton Pyros wore red orange Muton armors, and their red skin was the result of gene modding to be heat resistant.

Although their range are limited, it is best not to think that they won't be able to get close. They are tougher than you think.

* * *

 **Gravac Construction report**

New building attachment unlocked: **Proving Ground** \- allowing the unit training building to recruit more advance units.


	5. TO REALLY SAVE A LIFE

Chapter 5 - TO REALLY SAVE A LIFE

Doctor Ariel Hanson watched the sky as a dropship flew into orbit. It dropped down a small squad of Firebats and Medics at the farm down the road. However, they were ambushed by the Zerg along the way. One Medic died back there, unable to catch up.

Once assured that Raynor's Raiders were here to help, she gave them control to the abandoned Dominion base. She began organizing the evacuation.

"Doctor, I have to tell you something" Raynor said.

"What is it?" Ariel asked.

"We have an ally inbound to the colony." Raynor replied "Please tell the people not to be afraid. They allied with us"

Speaking of which, dropship of foreign design flew in and dropped troops. Cyberdisk Constructors soon began building the base. Sectoid Soldiers and Muton Pyros began taking points. Many colonists were startled, but soon calmed down as the doctor explained to them about their intentions.

"So those guys are friendly? Thank goodness"

"Damn, they are friendlier than them Protoss. All they wanted to do is to burn the planet filled with Zerg"

"Look at them dude! So alien!"

Commotion soon died down as evacuation proceeded. Convoys began to fill up. Soldiers locked and loaded for the first convoy.

" **Raynor. My people will scout ahead and secure the road."** Noah informed.

"Thanks, Noah." Raynor replied. "We could use a recon before moving out"

And so the aliens moved down the road. Muton Pyros took the front line. As they walked down, Zerglings erupted from the ground and charged forward. They were met with the incinerating lasers, their carapaces caught on fire. They cried and withered into ashes.

"Damn! Those Elders should've give us these!" cheered one of the Mutons. "I like this thing!"

They continued their patrol. They did came across some unmanned bunkers, ones which Dr. Hanson informed that the Dominion just left the moment the Zerg invaded. Raynor ordered some of his men to man them. Two Marines and a Firebat per bunker.

The first convoy made its move. Zerg began to swarm, one from down the cliff, and another from the farm. The Terran soldiers held off any that came too close. Firebats got scratched at some point, but still functional thanks to the Medics.

On the alien's side, easy was that they met. Muton Flamers handled it all, some with Sectoid Soldier's assist. When the convoy arrived, the Zerglings were yet to ran pass them. Although one managed to get close, it was brutally stomped.

The convoy made it to the starport. A couple more were still left. All of them knew there was more work to be done.

Dr. Hanson watched the aliens at work. They volunteered for this, and did it swiftly without any arguments. Perhaps they were worth the help.

* * *

It began to get harder as the time went on.

The sun was setting over the Creep covered soil. The Zerg began to come in more numbers and variants. Roaches and Hydralisks were now in the fray. At one point, large worms began to burst out of the ground and spat Zergs out of the mouth. Evacuation vehicles began to take damage. The latest one was destroyed, leaving only a quarter to reach safety.

And now came the final ride. Noah and Raynor began pouring their resources on units. The Zerg were going to come in for an onslaught. They had to defend this convoy at all cost.

As soon as the wheels turned, waves of Zerg rushed towards them. Beams and bullets traveled toward the invaders, holding them away from the convoy. Firebats and Muton Pyros were scorching Earth right now. They were literally the wall of fire.

The wave seemed endless. Then again, the Zerg was numberless. Even a fortress won't last against the Zerg by just holding them off and hope their numbers would dwindle.

Defensive line began to breach. Zerglings began to get too close for comfort. Roach's acid heavily burned through armor and flesh alike. Hydralisk spines embedded on the hull.

"Hold them just a little longer!" shouted the convoy driver. "We are almost there!"

Firebats exploded as their fuel tanks were pierced. Muton Pyros burned away any that got through. Sectoid Soldiers overworked their psionics, buffing the Terrans.

The convoy climbed up the ramp, drove beyond the turrets. And it was done. The evacuation of Agria was completed.

"Thank you so much, commanders" Dr. Hanson said in relief. "Our colony is lost, but my people is safe thanks to you two"

* * *

The doctor decided to stay with Raynor's Raiders. She went to work in the laboratory, where the artifact was stored. She did make some analysis on the artifact, claiming it to be 'very young' for a Xel'Naga artifact.

Meanwhile, Swann got himself an unexpected guest. "So, you must be the alien's chief engineer" he greeted Gravac, who walked to him. "The name is Rory Swann, but it's Swann to you"

"Whatever" Gravac snickered, looking at the short engineer with mechanical claw. "So many hardwares you've got here"

"Yours too, big alien buddy" Swann said "Your energy weapons literally spook some of us. We've never got them in handheld scale."

Gravac raised his brow. He remembered XCOM having energy weapons. Soon he realized that they were just a small organization, not Earth's official army.

"Anyway, what's your business here, buddy?" Swann asked.

Gravac gazed left and right. "Just to see all the Terran ingenuity and technology. Even I'm shock by your advancements"

"I doubt it was more than that"

Gravac's volume went to soft. "Well… You see… the thing is…"

* * *

"You're going to build what?" Horner asked. He, Raynor, Noah, and Ariel were discussing about Noah's request. One that the Terran had never heard of.

Noah brought up a schematic. Language was alien, but the translator helped solving that problem. " **A Psionic Gateway. It is a psionic portal, allowing travels from one place to another. It requires large amount of psionic to power it up, thus come to the second one: the Psionic Network Tower"** He showed another blueprint. " **With these, we can have a portal linked between our ship and yours"**

Raynor and Horner were still trying to make sense of this. They were not science person. Dr. Hanson saw otherwise. She may just be another colonist, but her field in science was excellent.

"A psionic based technology?", as Egon Stetman, who came wandering around and saw the blueprints. "We've never seen anything like this! This is amazing. If we can build these…"

"Hold on there, Stetman" Raynor stopped. "Noah and his people will be building it, not us."

" **Consider it a gift"** Noah replied. " **This way, exchanges between species will be easier"**

"Yes, and who knows what more they could teach us" Dr. Hanson spoke up. "Their biology is interesting. I would be happy to study your people and your culture."

Horner was a bit stressful, however. This Psionic Gate will be built on his ship, the Hyperion. Having a foreign being installed something on his ship was a fear to him. He was always wary of strangers.

"I'll let it slide for now" Raynor said.

"Jim, you can't be serious" Horner intervened. "Who knows what it is truly for."

"We've take a much riskier joint, Matt." Raynor replied "Plus, they come in peace. I think they meant us no harm." He then turned to Noah. "Speaking of which, you should come up with a faction name. I don't want to keep calling you alien"

Noah's mind spun in thoughts. They had never officially called themselves anything, not even the Uber Ethereal. XCOM just called them X-rays, which did not really fit in. ADVENT was off the list. It was a Human government that covered their true intent. It did not really fit if there was no Human on board.

As he was brainstorming, Raynor and Horner continued on trust issues. Dr. Hanson and Stetman began examining the blueprints. Both soon nodded in agreement that their engineers won't be able to build it out of scratch. Only these aliens can.

Soon Noah came to a conclusion. If the Human called them once as this, it should be good for now. " **For now, called us X-rays"** he declared. " **We are a community of unknown races that just arrived in the Kropulu Sector"**

"Unknown? But you are Human" Dr. Hanson pointed out.

" **On the outside. On the inside, I am something different"** Noah explained.

"So what are you then?" Horner asked. He wanted to know if he can trust this person.

Noah sighed. " **All will be told in due time, Horner"** he replied " **However, until that time comes, your question will not be answered."**

Horner was not amused. Raynor respected that. They've just met a few days ago. They won't just come and tell them everything.

" **Now I have to excuse myself. I have other matters to attend"** Noah then left the bridge.

Horner turned to Raynor. "Sir, I've managed to crack into some of the file"

"Tell me what you find, Matt" Raynor said.

"Well, in 2015, aliens came to Earth and invaded." Horner explained "Enemy classification is a bit blurry for now, but one name matched one of the X-rays: Sectoid"

Raynor's eye widened slightly. "Well, Noah did gave us Sectoids to help. But if they really invaded Earth..."

"That's the question, sir." Horner spoke "What makes them turn friendly on us. We're Humans just like them"

"Keep on decrypting the file, Matt." Raynor ordered. "I need to consult on this Psionic Gateway with Swann."

* * *

"So you want to make a portal?" Swann summarized on what Gravac told him.

Gravac nodded. "Correct. And as we speak, Noah is talking to your leader right now"

"Well, right now we don't have space" Swann replied "We're still sorting out all the hardwares and upgrades. And our last budget was spent on improving Firebats. But if Jim told us to built it, we'll do"

Gravac smiled. He then left the armory, leaving Swann to his work.

Later, Raynor walked into the armory. "Hey, hotshot" Swann greeted. "An alien named Gravac just came by and talked about this 'psionic whatever project' of his"

Raynor smiled at his chief engineer."So you've already know. Well then, we might as well get started."

"I'll get my boys to make a clear room." Swann said "It should provide enough space for this gate Gravac talked about"

* * *

Noah came into the laboratory. He was expecting to see Biggs doing autopsy on a Roach.

What he found was him standing in front of a set of pods. He had never seen those on his first visit. All the pods were stacked on the shelves, which seemed to extended out from a wall. A storage to store bodies, perhaps.

Noah decided to take a closer look. In each pair of pods were aliens. All that the Ethereal had subjugate and uplifted: Sectoids, Vipers, Archons, even Facelesses and Andromedons. Naga told him they had no Archon, Faceless, or Andromedons. All but Ethereals were in those pods. Why were they in cryo?

"From all the silence, I presume you have questions, Great One" Biggs replied. He wasn't surprised. He knew Noah was in the room by the sound of the door. "And if you wonder if they are alive, they… in the middle of the way"

" **Biggs, what is this?"** Noah asked. He hated being left in the dark. " **Why there's corpses of other species in the preservation pods?"**

Biggs turned around. "The Elder's last project they assigned for me." he explained "Project Ark. The Elder knew we won't have all species on board, so they told me to bring the pods of corpses, and recreate them into a living being."

Recreating aliens. Creating life. That defied nature. Not even gene therapy can compete.

"But the Elders wanted them to rejoin the ranks after they were complete." Biggs continued. He pressed a button and the shelves retracted back into the wall. "I won't. I wanted them to have a life that we never have. A life that we are at peace. A life that we are not pawns. A life with true co-existance with the Humans. What purpose is to create life just for them to die?"

Noah came closer to the Sectoid. " **You valued life that much?"**

Biggs snickered. "I used to have a brother. He was changed into Mectoid. Unfortunately, he was one of the first sent to attack XCOM headquarters. You know what happened there."

" **The attack was a failure"** Noah recalled. " **No survivors"**

"Exactly" Biggs replied. "And truth be told, that was the recent batch too. All of them were new to living. I only knew him for 2 weeks" But he did not sob. "Enough of the past. I need to get to work, Great One. Maybe later, we can talk"

Noah nodded, and left the lab. He began to question himself about the Elders.

What were they trying to prove?

Why did they put so much faith in the Humans so much that they needed the Commander to help with the great threat?

And just what about is this Great Threat they so worried about?

* * *

 **Autopsy report: Zergling**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

These Zerglings, as the Terran named it, were considered the basic foot soldiers for the Zerg. They were extremely agile, and strong in numbers. I would not want to imagine how it would feel having them swarming on our bodies.

They uses speed and numbers to win. Alone, a Zergling won't be killing anyone, but it is best not to think so.

In addition, some Zerglings we recovered were identical. They were birth as twins. Test to see the lifespan was proven to be very short. The one we dissect was only 3 hours old since birth. With growth rate this fast, and the fact that they hatched from cocoons, I feared about being overwhelmed by these beings and its stronger kins

 **Autopsy report: Hydralisk**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

It was amazing how the Zerg, which lack any technology, managed to have a range unit that spit projectile that was as lethal as the Terran's bullets. In fact, it even pierced through metal. The Hydralisks are one such example.

The tip of the projectile is laced with poison. Although not inflicting instant death, it could be proven lethal if left uncheck. They are also have a light carapace, able to soak up damage for a while

 **Autopsy report: Mutalisk**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

Flying variation of the Zerg, Mutalisk are considered to be one of the most priorities threat. This is because of their flight capability.

While they had a mouth, they also had another on its… bottom. Its purpose is to spit their projectile. Unlike the Hydralisk, Mutalisk's projectile are rather designed to deal with lightly armored units. Nevertheless, packing a lot of armor won't really save you from flying menace.

 **Autopsy report: Roach**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs.**

Roach had heavy carapace, capable of taking damage for a long time. Worse was that they can recover when burrow, and our troops won't see them unless we have a detector. Worse than that is the Terran claimed that sometimes Roaches move underground.

Roach spit acid, burning through skin and armor alike. But since it was liquid, they have to spit at closer range. Then again, their tough carapace compensate that. I advise caution dealing with these things.

* * *

 **Gravac Armory report**

New Unit unlocked: **Chryssalid Spitter**

Cost: 125 Minerals, 50 Vespene.

Requirement: Chryssalid Hive.

Ranged variation of Chryssalid, they can now spit projectile laced with Chryssalid poison. Imagine having poisoned someone from afar, turning them into zombies, and then bursted out a newborn Chryssalid Slasher.

Because we based them on the Hydralisk, they were weaker as some of their carapace were remove to implant the organ responsible for the production of those spine.

New Unit unlocked: **Chryssalid Slasher**

Cost: 75 Minerals

Requirement: Chryssalid Hive.

We all know well about normal Chryssalid. This is what they will be called now.

New Unit unlocked: **Muton Demolisher**

Cost: 100 minteral, 25 Vespene

Requirement: Proving Ground

These were normal Mutons, but I decided to replace their normal bayonet plasma rifle something special: grenade launcher. Now they can blow things up bigger and more damaging. In fact, I made their grenades themselves, mixing it with volatile components.

Note to self: fix 4 workbenches soon. Should be more cautious with explosive

To tell the difference, I've told them to have their skin painted. Demolishers will have yellow and orange skin, and wore black blast padded Muton armor.

Note from Biggs: Great One, I would advise your men to be cautious about using explosives. While proven effective, it would remove any valuable objects or specimens that may worth researching or salvage.

New Upgrade unlocked: **Regenerative Carapace**

Cost: 200 Minerals, 200 Vespene

Using Roach's genes, we can have the Chryssalids the same carapace and metabolism that allow them to regenerate when burrow.

* * *

 **Gravac Construction report**

New Building unlocked: **Chryssalid Hive** \- Allow the Cloning Facility to train Chryssalid, as well as their upgrades.

* * *

Meanwhile on Char, the Evolution Master Abathur sensed competition. Someone just copied his own design and integrated to their own. And he was having a temper.

"Unacceptable. Biomass thief. Took design from Swarm. Spin sequences to their image. Must eliminate. Eradicate"


	6. RACE AGAINST ZERG

Chapter 6 - RACE AGAINST ZERG

The Hyperion and the Exodus orbited around the planet Monlyth. Tychus explained that the second artifact was here, guarded by a Protoss fanatical tribe called Tal'darim.

"There it is, Jimmy, just like Moebius said." Tychus said as the camera showed the second artifact on a Protoss shrine. "Easy money."

"I don't know." Raynor replied "There's a lot of Protoss down there"

"Em… what's a Protoss?" Naga asked out of confusion.

"They're the most advanced race in this Sector, and also a local aside from the Zerg" Raynor explained. "And don't be fooled by their lack of armor. They have energy shields"

Noah looked at the overview of Protoss defense. The buildings had unique design to it. But most noticeable was the crystal that was always around a building of theirs.

"If you reach their base, here's the tip" Raynor added. "Go for the Power Pylons. Knocking it down will disable their building's power, making it useless. Most of them anyway"

Clearly, the defense was heavy. And the army size was sure hell heavier. Even an army would have a hard time getting through that.

Until the Zerg came out of the ground. Zerg of all kinds, with exception of Mutalisk since it flew, emerged and launched assault at the Protoss, clearly heading toward the artifact.

"Ah, hell" Raynor cursed.

"Them critters just hiding underground, waiting?" Tychus baffled.

"No idea. But I can tell that they are going for the shrine!" Naga yelled.

"Well, that sure complicates things." Tychus spoke "We can't fight two armies at once, partner…"

" **Maybe we will not have to"** Noah explained. " **We have seen an alternate path that the Zerg will not take. We can set up our bases and use that route to get to the artifact, while the Protoss are busy with the Zerg."**

"Yeah, but it's only a matter of time before the Zerg overwhelm the Protoss" Raynor added.

All of them were dawned to a conclusion. They had to smash and grab the artifact before the Zerg could get there, and bug out.

* * *

With both of their bases set up and functioned, the operation was a go. Minerals and Vespenes were harvested quickly as the Protoss on the Zerg side slowly lost their ground. Raynor began to train Marines and Medics. Noah issued a couple of Sectoid soldiers to be trained.

But their arrival did not went unnoticed. A group of Protoss, two Zealots and two Stalkers, began to make their way toward their bases. They would have lost the operation if Swann and Gravac did not show up with fresh troops.

Swann sent down some Marauders, while Gravac dropped Muton Demolishers. Soon as they they got into the field, they launched grenades at the incoming Protoss. The intruders did not stood a chance.

"Great One! Did you remember what I said about the use of explosive?!" Biggs wasn't happy. He wanted to study the Protoss, but now there was nothing but scraps and dust on those intruders.

"Don't put it on Noah, big head" Gravac interfered. "That was me. If those Protoss reach us, we won't even have a thing to collect"

Biggs seemed to lose it as his comm was called off. The operation then continued as normal. Once the army size was large enough, their race to the artifact began.

On the other side, the Protoss' first line had fallen. The Zerg began to set up hatcheries, giving out a constant flow of them. At this rate, no matter what, all of the Protoss' defense will fall.

Meanwhile, the Raiders and X-rays began making their way. They met with resistances here and there, but there was nothing a couple of explosive could not handle. Biggs was not happy still.

A Muton Demolisher laughed at the remains of a Photon Cannon. "Ha! Now this is much more fun to play with! Grenades for everyone!"

"Now that's a kind of person I like" A Marauder commented.

When they came to a Protoss base, they were stuck. Throughout their march, they'd lost some manpowers to the former Protoss defense. And now the Zerg began to headed toward them in few numbers. And the long walk was sure slowing the reinforcement rate down. They could not keep up.

Knowing that this will be much more difficult, Gravac sent down another squad. This one really scared the shit out of the Terrans.

Dropping to the ground, a swarm of Chryssalids landed, three Slashers and two Spitters. They screeched upon arrival and rushed straight to the Photon Cannon up the ramp. Muton Demolishers and Sectoid Soldiers followed without hesitation. The Terrans were left shocked, almost pissing their underwear. They soon snapped out and continued their assault

Protoss' shield may helped them deal with a small of Zerglings before they die, but the Chryssalid's poison was something else. The shield broke in few seconds, and every cut and slash received was infected. The Protoss fell down, and dissipated into nothing.

Biggs noted down. Protoss cannot be infested.

Despite how brave and cunning they were, the Protoss had never fought these new interlopers. Chryssalid did a really quick work, breaking morales. Mutons were able to countered their melee attacks, slowly pushing them back. With the covering fire from the Sectoids and the Terrans, their defense was soon rid of.

But the Zerg was doing the same on their end. They had almost breached the last line. They had to hurry to get the artifact.

A lone and stupid Terran rushed with a war cry. Others was about to warn him to wait, but he was long gone. They watched him leave, only to see him running back.

And luring three giant Protoss stone statues, firing lasers at him.

"Fucking Leroy! I told you to wait for us first!" said a Marauder.

Chryssalids, as they were, rushed straight to the statues. They were quickly disintegrated, while some survivors dug themselves into the ground after that severe attack. The rest began to open fire, chipping away the stones slowly. But it seemed to do very little.

Then the Chryssalids rose back up. All its wounds healed up. It turned and scratched the statues' legs, causing it to turn away from the gunfire.

It took a while, but they managed to bring them down. They did not celebrate, as the Zerg was already at the statues. They got to get the artifact out now.

Swann informed that his crew was picking up the artifact now. Once it was on board the shuttle, Raynor ordered a retreat. "We've got what we came for! Let's high-tail it out of here!"

" **All units, evacuate! We have finished our mission!"** Noah insisted.

As the shuttle was leaving the area, an echoing feminine voice spoke. One that brought dread to all who hears it "I forgot how resourceful you are, Jim. I won't make that mistake twice"

Raynor gritted his teeth. He knew that voice. "Kerrigan"

* * *

Sarah Kerrigan the Queen of Blades could only watched the Terran departed from the eyes of her Overlord. It had been a long time since she last saw Jim.

But the fellow ally that Jim came with… they were new. She had never seen them before. She had saw the Chryssalid Spitter in action, and the Slasher's behavior to burrow and regenerate. "So Abathur was correct" she murmured. "He did have a competition"

But those were just a thorn in her way. Only thing that matters to her was the death of Mengsk.

* * *

Tychus and Noah, on the Hyperion's bridge, watched a video feed of a squad of Terran soldiers fighting the Queen of Blades. The video stopped at the moment she lunged towards the camera, showing her Human face.

Tychus smoked his cigar. Noah was in his thought. This was Raynor's once love ones. The one he grieved to.

And now, she was the leader of the Zerg swarm, the being who only seek destruction.

Tychus turned off the monitor. But he did not notice the captain staring at him from his back until the reflection of the screen said so. Noah did not react, and in fact, he did not said anything at all.

"That's funny, convict" Horner started. He seemed to ignore Noah for now. "I don't recall giving you access to our database." Then his eyes landed on Noah. "And you too"

"Just keeping up on the current event, 'Captain'" Tychus half-lied.

But Horner had already saw it with his own eyes. He turned on the monitor, showing the Queen of Blades' face again.

"Seems this 'Queen of Blades' got everyone running scared. She don't look so tough" Tychus commented, a small grin on his face.

Horner was about to reply, but Noah spoke first. " **You have no idea what she is, do you, Tychus?"**

"Don't matter to me none" Tychus smirked.

Horner squinted his eyes at the convict, then turned to the windows. "Well it matters to Jim." he explained "They were… close once"

Tychus glared at the Queen of Blades for a second. "Wait a minute..." he said, laughing "You're telling me they were shacked up?!"

" **She was something else in the past, Tychus"** Noah implied.

"Yes, apparently she was" Horner agreed. "Before the Zerg took her." He spun around and faced the monitor "Turned her into that"

Tychus looked at the screen again. "And Jimmy feels responsible"

"Honestly, if we have to face her again I don't know what he'll do" Horner replied, looking out into space again.

Tychus puffed his cigar. "Women like that…" he said, hovering the ciger's end above the screen. He moved it towards the Queen of Blades' forehead. "There's only one thing to do" He then pinned the cigar at the screen.

Soon, he left the bridge for the cantina, leaving Noah and Horner alone in the room with the screen still on.

" **I don't trust him"** Noah said with hatred. For being Raynor's companion, Tychus seemed to give no damn about his love lost.

"I agree, Noah" Horner nodded. "But I'm keeping an eye on you too"

* * *

Horner did informed Raynor about Tychus and Noah. Despite the captain's argument, and the fact that neither had access to the database, Raynor let it slide for both, Tychus for being the person who take his bullet, and Noah for he already knew about her.

Down in the laboratory, Stetmann was glad his lab was operational. However, he did mentioned that if they managed to get any X-ray corpses, he wanted them for his study. Raynor pondered over it, saying he'll asked them for permission. Hanson talked to him about Kerrigan. Raynor told her everything he could, and how he had to live up with it. She also mentioned about the non-sense the crew talked about the artifact.

Now, he had three missions to see through. First was Hanson's. She wanted him to investigate Meinhoff. The second one came from Horner. He informed that Dominion were having a train transporting cargoes from the mines on Tarsonis, the former Confederate planet that was 'overrun' by the Zerg. The final one came from a stranger named Gabriel Tosh, giving the Raiders a mining job on Redstone for some funds.

Apparently, they could really use the money. Raynor informed Horner and Noah about the next mission. They're going to Redstone.

* * *

 **Research Report: Protoss**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

It was hard to believe at first. Protoss, despite having all the flesh and sinew like all organisms do, they are made out of pure psionic energy! Even my team said it was impossible. But I guess it is no longer.

Like the Terran said, the Protoss are very advance. More advance that we are, as a matter of fact. They had energy weapons and energy shields. I could not conclude on what technology the Protoss possess or rely on. That will need a much closer look at their civilization and invention.

Unfortunately, despite all the Protoss casualties and a much more restraints on explosive uses, we did not recover any bodies. They disappeared in form of energy when they died, leaving nothing behind. If I am to study their anatomy, I'll need one… alive for autopsy.

I've told Gravac to arm and ready the Abduction Pods in case we face the Protoss again. Like I've mentioned. We need a live Protoss. We need to abduct one.


	7. SPECTRE AND LAZARUS

Chapter 7 - SPECTRE AND LAZARUS

Tosh watched the Raynor's Raider's flagship, the Hyperion, entered from its warp. He did offer them a job, so they were to be expected.

He did not expect a second ship though.

As a Spectre, it wasn't difficult to look into memories of people. And after looking into the Hyperion crews, these aliens on the Exodus could be trusted. They did formed an alliance together.

"This is going to be interesting" he chuckled.

* * *

"Redstone" Raynor commented as he looked at the lava planet that was once the KMC mining area. "Heck of a place. I ever mention how much I hate volcanic planets?"

" **You have never said that to anyone, Raynor"** Noah spoke. Clearly, he had took a peak in his memory.

The comm lit up, revealing Tosh. "Good to see you made it. They called me Tosh. You help me mine the minerals I need and I'll make it worth your while"

"What's the catch?" Raynor asked. Tosh won't call them if it was that easy.

"Well, this place is a little… unstable" Tosh explained as the video feed of SCV evacuating with the Command Centre. Both headed for higher ground as the lava below slowly engulf the plateau below. "The low ground gets flooded with lava every few minutes. Of course, that's where the richest mineral nodes are found. But that'll be no problem for a big tough guy like you"

"I'm picking up Zerg signatures on the surface" Naga informed. "We'll need to invest in defending this operation. We'll be stuck here longer if we spend more of what we mine"

Raynor chuckled at his luck. "Lava and Zerg. Two of my favorite things. Let's do this"

* * *

The operation was a go. Raynor's SCV began harvesting. Since his Command Centre can lift off, it was proven to be no problem for them.

But to Noah, it was. The Psi-Command Centre could not be moved from where it built. Nevertheless, the Cyberdisk Constructors had no problem with it. Their flight capability allowed them to go over uneven terrains with ease.

Then the siren went up. Lava was rising. SCV evacuated, Command Centre flew up, Noah could use an Archon right now. Their thrusters could traversed the elevation with no trouble. Sadly, they had none. He and Biggs will have a little talk about this.

Cyberdisks floated away from the rising molten lava. Any ground Zerg that was on low ground were burned into nothing.

But with most of the ground considered as death zone, they needed a mobile unit.

Tosh called both commanders. Apparently, he had a gift. Well, for Raynor, that is. Men with large jetpacks climbed up the cliff and stopped in front of the Command Centre. Swann called them Reapers.

"I thought Reapers were the ones who stayed in the shadow and ate Chryssalids for breakfast" Naga asked, remembering the 'other' Reaper.

"Let's just hope they're not as aggressive as them" Biggs wished. He had seen the recordings of XCOM Reapers in action.

And so they watched Raynor's Reapers departed, scouting the area. Zerg infrastructures were found on across the low ground area. Tosh kept a constant update on the mineral nodes. He did requested a rescue on his previous mining team, which were found just north of the base. Meanwhile, Stetmann wanted a Brutalisk down the south for a study.

And Noah volunteered for it.

Once the lava retreated to normal level again, a mass of Mutons marched down south. All of them were excited to see this Brutalisk, They thought they would be as tough as a Sectopod can be.

Yet it always something else.

The Muton Pyros did not stood a chance against those giant scythe arms and talons. Its carapace withstanded a lot more firepower than expected. The Muton Demolishers did their best, but the Brutalisk did not phased.

Gravac did not take the sight in well. His species was getting slaughtered by that one Zerg monstrosity. He rushed into engineering, and locked himself in there.

In the end, only two Mutons survived, and were left stranded there since the lava came up. They would return to base once it went down again.

* * *

Noah decided to visit Gravac. He could feel distress in that Muton. He had never thought Muton could be soft.

He was about to knock when Gravac shouted, "It's open"

Noah walked in, seeing Gravac on his workbench. In his hand held XCOM's Nanomedkit. There was also a stab wound on his hand, still gushing blood. He sprayed the medkit on the wound, but it did nothing. He sighed in defeat.

 **"Still trying to make a medical kit?"** Noah asked.

Gravac nodded. "Could never get the mixture right. Won't work for all species."

Noah sat beside him. He did just ordered Mutons to their death to kill a Brutalisk. Watching your own people die under someone else's order was a heartbreaking experience. If there was no way to heal, how would he live with it?

Then came a cough. Biggs was standing by the door. "Perhaps I can help" he smiled.

"What can you help with, Biggs?" Gravac asked, clearly not in the mood. "Going to make them a zombie."

The Sectoid scientist chuckled with a smile, that looked more sinister than inviting when it was a Sectoid's face. "Something in similar, in fact. I need your cooperation, however" he replied.

* * *

After harvesting 8000 of these rich golden minerals, the Hyperion and the Exodus left Redstone. Noah was called to the Hyperion. When he arrived, Tosh was having a talk with Raynor about another job, and his choice of staying on the Hyperion.

Once that was done, Raynor left for the cantina. Horner went back to business as usual. Tosh noticed the new guest staring at him, despite the visor being one-way. "What is it, my new brother?"

Noah shrugged. " **Nothing."** he replied and turned around. " **Spectre Gabriel Tosh"**

Tosh wasn't stunned. His hand did not unfold his butterfly knife, or glare dagger. In fact, he was impressed. That man only need an eye contact to see the truth. He could feel a psionic poke back there too. Clearly he was a powerful psionic without any enhancement. Much more than him.

But he knew that wasn't his true potential. That body did not house all of his psionic potential. In fact, there was something else. Something that was much more amplified about him.

* * *

Horner dug through the file he recovered deeper. The corruption was clearing away as hours went on. He had uncovered some, although most was still obscured.

The file name was "XCOM", written by a man who, no matter how much he decrypted, had no name on the cover except for "The Commander".

"Must be a pen name" Horner assumed.

For now, he could only gain access to the name of each aliens. Specific details about each topic were still under data reparation. Some of these names matched with the ones boarding the Exodus. Sectoid, Viper, Muton… it was all in here.

Although further intel and digging may be needed for confirmation about the X-rays, Horner had a troubling thought about their new ally already.

* * *

On the operating table, kept in quarantine chamber to prevent odor of decomposition, a Faceless corpse was lying on it. Biggs, Noah, and Gravac was in the room. On Bigg's wrist, his gauntlet was not the standard gauntlet the Sectoids get in the armory.

"Test 14 of the Lazarus amp." Biggs spoke to his recorder. "Today, I will… attempt in resurrecting the Faceless. And we hope that they would not ended up like the psi zombies."

He channeled his mental powers to the Lazarus amp. He then sent the psionic away, focusing it at the Faceless. Unlike normal Sectoid's psionic amp, Lazarus amp released light blue energy. The energy surrounded the Faceless' lifeless body. The audience waited for a reaction.

Then its claw twitched. Its decomposition reversed. Its eyes open and gave out a moan, waking up from a seemingly long sleep.

"It's alive! It's alive!" Biggs squealed. His arms raised in the air with joy. "And it is a success!"

Immediately after that, the Lazarus amp exploded harmlessly, rendering the amp broken. Biggs' joy turned sour. "And it took me hours to get it just right."

Gravac smiled a little. He did have a part in building that Lazarus amp. He was glad that it work. It just need a few tweaks for sustainability. Although it won't heal, it will return the dead to the world.

"Only work if the corpse is still intact, though." Biggs added. "It won't regenerate body parts."

Noah nodded. " **We could've use this back in the war"**

"It's still a prototype, Great One" Biggs replied "We could never test it when XCOM came back. Plus, the Elders deemed it as unneeded."

"They could think again" Gravac grunted. "I think we put too much into amplification. Maybe toning it down could let it last longer"

"Could do" Biggs agreed. "Making it longer to resurrect, but keep the device stable."

Both left the lab, leaving Noah with the Faceless, who stared at the Avatar with a face that expressed nothing but blank face. He could not tell from its wrinkly face.

" **Better get you fit in with the others then"** he shrugged and walked away, the Faceless stomping behind him silently, following his steps.

* * *

 **Research report: Project Lazarus**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

I could not believe it! I could not believe it worked! We had finally bringing the dead back to life, both flesh and mind! We're now playing with life and death itself!

However, the device used in said experiment was still a prototype. It had just recently exploded. Gravac is improving the device at the moment. Maybe soon, we'll have them in the armory.

Another issue is that it required large psionic potential to properly operate it. From my record, so far, only Sectoids whom were once a Commander could use it without massive feedback.

It should solve the field medic problem that Gravac had been traumatized by.. Some of the crew ask me this: What sort of doctor heals people when they're dead? Now we have the answer.


	8. IT'S NOT OVER YET

Chapter 8 - IT'S NOT OVER YET

Seeing the Faceless returned to their fold lifted up the crew's spirit. It was a sign that they can rebuild their species, their civilization here. They can make a better future, better than what the Uber Ethereal and the Elders gave them. Recently, the crew began to interact with the Terran more frequently. Exchanges were made. Chatters and contacts here and there. Many began to foresee the better future.

Raynor informed that they deserved a break. Right now, the Hyperion was undergo refueling. The Exodus was waiting just outside the gas station. Elerium core did not need refuel, only maintenance.

Naga began to have a chat with Horner. After understanding the Raider's motive, Naga nodded in agreement to the better future Horner spoke of. They seeked the fall of Arcturus Mengsk, and a better future for all Terrans.

Gravac and Biggs were busy down in the engineering. The Lazarus amp was still under some development. Apparently, they did tested it again on a Viper corpse, and it rendered the lab filled with poisonous odor. It was marked biohazard, and the cleaning was still in progress.

Speaking of both of them, they said that the psionic network tower had been reestablished. The gateway on the Hyperion was finished as well. Testing the portal showed no anomaly. It worked like a charm.

Biggs also did some analysis on the minerals from Redstone. Dr. Hanson called it Jorium. It could be used to enhance the psionics. Although this built a few suspicion on Tosh, Noah decided to let it. Tosh was a man of his word. He can tell that much. Biggs began to looking into the ways to enhance the Sectoid's psionic immediately.

A few hours later, in his Ethereal body, Noah began his meditation. His Avatar sat on the chair with no movement or signs of life. He felt a bit different. Maybe a side effect of controlling an Avatar, but it was a relief to get out of it sometimes, to remind his of what he originally was.

His breath rhythmed slowly with steady pacing. His mind was calm and clear. He could feel his psionic flow around him. His frail body lifted from the floor, hovering in the centre of the room.

Then his thought strayed. He remembered the leader of XCOM, the Commander. That Human was intelligent and visionary. He won against the Ethereal and their army twice. No doubt he could do it again.

With his consciousness swayed, he fell, but managed to catch himself with his psionic powers. He righted himself back up, and lied in his pod. He closed his eyes, and opened them, looking from the Avatar's perspective.

Then he calmed down. It was 500 years since the invasion. There was no chance they could catch up to them. They would all be dead by now.

* * *

The Commander marched down the hall of the Avenger from his room. Even with their victory, XCOM's work was never done. The aliens were retreating, hiding in disarray without the Elder's control and nowhere to go to. Humans had taken back half of the Earth, and their uprising temp escalated. And now, with the whole world siding with XCOM again, the council were rebuilt and fully funded their support into this.

The resistance factions, meanwhile, was handling their duties well. Reapers were now killing aliens with ruthless efficiency. Skirmishers were rounding up any ADVENT escapees. Templars… they went underground for some reason.

Still, each faction now committed to XCOM. They had given a staff to help training XCOM recruit into their classes. However, only a few accomplished in said trainings. Many failures occurred during the training session.

The Commander stepped into the Shadow Chamber. This room was the real first step in overthrowing the Elders. Here, Dr. Richard Tygan and chief engineer Lily Shen were working on a Codex's remains. It wasn't the first time they did, but this one was crucial.

A few days or so ago, XCOM came to a facility on the Skirmisher's intel about the alien's evacuation. They came too late because the ship had already departed when they attacked the underwater fortress. Details proved that among those escapees, an Ethereal, with an Avatar body, was included.

An Ethereal who survived was a bad sign to all. They were the mastermind behind the invasion and ADVENT coalition. They had to make sure such threat won't be a problem in the future.

Thus, they needed to get that Ethereal. They needed it dead

Fortunately, a Codex was there on site, attempting to erase the data before any Human come and investigate. It was interrupted before any deletion was done. With the files from that place, if the Codex's memory proved that an Ethereal was really on board, this operation will be a go.

Central officer John Bradford came into the room. "Tygan, Shen. How's the extraction going?"

"Going smoother than the last time, Central." Tygan replied. "After working on the Codex twice, we can set up safety parameters to ensure that the Codex won't cause any damage if that should happen."

"I should be able to get into the memory core in a few minutes" Lily notified. "Until then we could plan on making improvement to our ship. The Exodus may be incomplete, but it is not a normal UFO, if the data was correct. The engineering team just finished installing the hangar. We could now store more than a Skyranger. In fact, we could store an Interceptor now."

Central looked into the Commander's eyes with glee. "Could you believe it, Commander?" he spoke "20 damn years of fighting alien, and we are really pushing them back."

The Commander nodded. It had been a long road for both of them. Defending Earth from the invasion, then was betrayed and turned into fugitives, and now once again the savior of Earth.

Bradford was enlightened. "I am so going to retire after we eliminate the aliens on this Exodus"

Lily finished her work. "It's done. Accessing memory now" She then looked through the codes of data. The directive command line caught her attention. "It's seems that this Codex was told to erase the data by a Viper."

"Any signs of the Ethereal?" Central asked.

"It was told to erase the passenger and cargo manifests" Lily analyzed. "And there, two pods, both marked top priority with the Elder's signature"

"Image?" Central asked.

"None" Lily replied "The Codex had taken out the security records. But if the Elders allow this themselves, this top priority cargoes must be real important"

"I would agree" Tygan spoke up. "It is highly possible that the pods contained an Ethereal… Or an Avatar. The Avatar is just a host body, thus it could makes sense that they shipped this along with the Ethereal."

"The more reason to go after them." Central nodded. "Any ideas where it went?"

"That's the problem, John." Lily implied "There was no log about the Exodus' departure. Either the Codex deleted that as well, or it wasn't recorded at all."  
"The latter would make more sense in my opinion" Tygan noted. "Since the truth went out, all of ADVENT personnel left ADVENT and joined the uprising. They must be in a rush to leave, so they won't be keeping records about it."

Then the Commander had an idea. Some words were type onto the tablet and showed to Central, who widened his eyes as he understood what his commanding officer meant.

"Of course, the Hyperwave Relay" he gasped. "We located the UFO that housed the Ethereal device. Maybe we can use that to locate the Exodus too."

"That would means we have to go back" Lily spoke. "Going back to the old XCOM headquarters. But are you sure the relay is still there?"

"I hope so" Central replied. "We built it beside the Gollop Chamber and the Alien Containment facility, in the most secured section of the base. Let's just hope the aliens did not dig that far down."

-0-

"Commander" said the newly elected council spokesperson, sounding a bit more female with the distorted voice to cover her identity. "You saved humanity twice now. It is the second time we owe you. First, we of the council want to apologize for betraying you in favor of ADVENT. You have shown the light to us, shred us from the lies the aliens were showing." she shuffled her shadowed figure a little. "Now… your central officer had informed us about the alien remnant that fled. We cannot risk them to come back and do the same again. We are now fully funding any resources and manpower you will need to hunt them down. I hope this will bring an end to what we have initiated you for. Good luck, Commander"

The course was set. The decision was made. This will mark the final campaign to end the alien tyranny.


	9. FILL THE LAND WITH SMOKE

Chapter 9 - FILL THE LAND WITH SMOKE

Above Meinhoff, the Hyperion and the Exodus was stationary, observing the situation on the surface of the planet. The silenced communications were not a good sign, neither was the lack of activity.

But once the night came, horror sprung to life. Humanoid creatures shot up from the ground, walking with flailing limbs and appendages. Buildings around it showed signs of Zerg infestation.

Raynor knew these things. The Infested. Victims of the Zerg virus, the Virophage. The only cure was fire.

The good news was the Infested will hide when the sun rose up as its UV light will burn them. They will have a guaranteed safety during the day.

Bad news was the time cycle. 10 minutes was one day here. And as all Zerg were, the longer they stay, the stronger their assault will be.

Troops were soon dispatched to the landing zone. Time to burn them out.

* * *

It was evening by the time the base was set up and its perimeter secured. Three entrances, one blocked by a pile of debris in the south. Raynor took the right entrance, while Noah took the left.

Workers began their harvest and constructions. Barracks started building troops. Researches were processed as time went by. Quietness put all soldiers on their nerves.

And the day was no more.

Signatures were detected around the perimeter, massing toward the two entrances. The Marines entered a newly built bunker as the Firebat took point. Same was done of the other side, with the Muton up front and the Sectoids on the Defense Platform. All their weapons pointed at the incoming hordes.

"They're coming to get you, Barbara!" shouted a Marine.

Then they opened fire once the Infested came into view. The Terrans, stuck in an abomination of a Human body, walked forward with no consent or awareness of danger. They took the firepower and fell, but they kept massing on.

The night may be short, but it felt like forever.

* * *

Biggs could not apprehend the horror the Zerg inflincted on these colonists. True, Chryssalids turned people into zombies, then burst more Chryssalids out, but at least the victim died. This one, the victims were still alive, having no control over anything but to submit to the Zerg. A few even asked them for death while bruising up a Firebat.

And the numbers… The sensor showed a lot of them. Their defense was holding, but like many things, it won't last if it kept on going.

"Ariel's people had to suffer this fate…?" he mumbled, thinking to himself.

* * *

Noah looked at the Infested. Those poor souls. They reminded him of the ADVENT troopers. Created, only to be destroyed by the Elder's will.

This must be what the Human rebels feel. Fighting to preserve what was left of them as all around them were turning more aliens. They were fighting a battle they could not win, yet they kept on fighting.

And fighting themselves, nonetheless. ADVENT troops were formerly Human after all. They killed each other as the true villain sat and watched it all, doing something else.

He could feel Raynor's pity on these colonists, but there was nothing he could have done. All he could offer them was death.

The Humans were right to call X-rays monsters. That was Noah's revelation.

* * *

The Infested vaporized into ashes as the sun rose up. Swann sent Raynor a Factory and a group of vehicles. Said vehicle drove on four wheels at high speed, mounted with a flamethrower. Hellion was its name.

Gravac studied the design. Mechanical unit that still required an operator. X-ray never had that in their armory. In fact, they did not even bother. Sectopods and a couple of flyers were enough, they said.

The engineers pondered on their workbenches, drawing blueprints madly with ideas. Time to build something other than Sectopods.

But Gravac had an idea. Something similar to the Hellion. An old weapon only his kin knew of.

* * *

"Noah, I'm sending you a project that had never come to life. The Berserker Hellfire"

A squad of Berserkers were sent down to the base. They had red glow on where their augmentations were applied. Heat radiated around it, increasing temperature by a little when stood near.

" **Gravac, I don't think it is time to test out a prototype now"** Noah suggested.

"It is as good as any" Gravac replied. "With a speed of a Berserker, and napalm breath, they are more berserk than usual!"

As the Hellions burned a sector clear, the Berserker Hellfires ran at top speed to a different sector. Their footsteps left a trail of burning flame. They inhaled a bit, and spat out a torrent of flame, incinerating all that was in the way. Their fists also did a nice demolition job, tearing a building off the ground.

"Oh… only if Dr. Vahlen could see me now" Gravac grinned.

A few minutes later, the Northern area was clear of infestation. However, the sun was about to go, so the extermination teams were ordered to return.

And then came the second night.

Clearly the Infested had increased their size. However, it was more dreadful when they saw an armored Infested. An assault rifle was firing from its one hand, shot a Medic dead.

"Infested Marines!" shouted a Marine from the bunker.

* * *

Two planet cycles later, the infestation now only remained in the south. Trouble was that the area was filled with Zerg, but it was nothing the Hellions and the Berserker Hellfires cannot handle. Soon, all the Zerg was rid off on Meinhoff.

Dr. Hanson still continued to find a planet for her people. She decided to settle on Haven, a planet near the Protoss border. Raynor was slightly worried, knowing that Protoss were always serious when it comes to Zerg.

The laboratory doors opened. Biggs walked in, passed Stetmann's back. He came to Dr. Hanson, who was studying the growth of the Zerg specimen. The collected Artifacts floated in the containment field in the middle of the lab.

"Are those colonists going to be okay?" he asked. "Those people sure been through a lot. Not just the Dominion..."

"They will… Biggs" Ariel replied "They had no signs of infestation so far. They will be fine on Haven. I'm sure of it"

"Still… It would be best to think of a cure." Biggs suggested. "It may be impossible, but most achievements came from that impossible. We X-rays had experience in genetic modification. With our help, we both may be able to cure this. Not only that will help the Terrans, but will also put a dent in the Zerg army"

Ariel nodded. "I'm sure that we can make a cure for our people. We will definitely need it for the future, just in case"

Biggs nodded. "Yes it is. Humanity deserves better."

* * *

Noah walked in the Hyperion's hallway. He was alone. No one was with him.

Then he stopped. " **Tosh"**

Tosh decloaked, revealing himself to Noah. "You know, few people know about us Spectres" he said "Most ended up dead. So tell me. How did you know?"

Noah shook his head. " **We have our secrets, Tosh"** he answered. " **But I know more than that with just a look into your mind. I know about the resources your want Raynor to gather. I know about your plan to break New Folsom. And I know about someone who wanted to hunt you down."**

Tosh squinted his eyes, hands on his pocket knife. His psionic rippled, ready to kill. He will silence him if need be.

Noah sighed. " **But some secret is best remained hidden, Spectre Tosh. Raynor will know about it, and your consequence will be his decision."** He walked passed, leaving Tosh behind " **I know you're a good man, Tosh. You have my trust"**

Tosh stood alone, watching Noah walked away. He grinned, slowly disappearing away. "Whatever you say, brother"

* * *

 **Autopsy report: Infested**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

I could not describe what this thing is. A blend between Terran and Zerg, with more of the Zerg side dominating the other. Being aware as you do other's bidding, against your morals. The Zerg are a creature of nightmarish horror.

No sign of their virus infecting ours so far, but that doesn't mean we're immune to it. Best make a vaccine to prevent casualties.

* * *

 **Gravac Armory report**

New unit unlocked: **Berserker Hellfire**

Cost: 150 Minerals, 200 Vespene

Requirement: Berserker Arena

Muton's legends said that there was once a Berserker warrior who can breath fire. Everything he touch melt or burst into flame. He who brought justice to those who deserves damnation.

It was a silly tale during our time, but thanks to the Ethereal's gene therapy, and a few data recovered from Dr. Vahlen's pet project, it is now possible.

Purpose of the Berserker Hellfire was to destroy and flush enemies from their stronghold. High endurance, speed, and attack power make this Berserker a dangerous one. Fire can be breathe, and footsteps left scorch marks. By my estimates, even the SPARK could not stand a chance.

WARNING: augmentations must not be activate outside the missions. It could cause damages to both the ship and personnel if left on.

* * *

 **Gravac Construction report**

New building unlocked: **Berserker Arena** \- Allow Cloning Facility to train Berserkers.


	10. RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE

Chapter 10 - RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE

Raynor had set their next destination. The Hyperion and the Exodus soon came to a jungle planet of Bel'shir. Tosh said that this planet held some purple gas named Terrazine. The Tal'darim here kept it secured in shrines, as they called it a gift from their god.

Getting the gas was the easy part. The SCV and Cyberdisk Constructor can handle the collecting and transport. The shrines themselves were in plain sight too. The problem was the Protoss. Recon showed sizable air force. They won't let them get Terrazine that easy. Raynor feared that guns won't be enough, so he requested Swann to build a mech named Goliath.

Unfortunately, Gravac couldn't come up with an anti-air unit for the X-rays. They had to roll with whatever they had in their armory for now.

* * *

Truthfully, Naga could not believed that they would abduct people again. She and Gravac were in the torpedo bay, overseeing the work. Mutons were loading the abduction torpedoes into their slots, readying it for use. Biggs requested a live capture of Protoss specimens. Because they did not leave corpses on death, live abduction was the only way to do autopsy on them.

Many of the crew got the chill at that. Back when they were abducting Humans, autopsy was not on the list of study. Of course, Humans died during their attacks, so getting a body to do so wasn't an issue. This, cutting open a live being. Other than for surgery, this was too horrid and abhorrent.

But the option demanded it. They had to get one alive to study their anatomy.

A Muton had done his job. "All torpedoes loaded, boss"

"Get to your post" Gravac ordered. "Be ready to load the next after firing. Just in case he needed more"

* * *

Harmonic music of the local fauna was disturbed as the Command Centres landed and began expansion. Soldiers gathered at the exit point. Until they had a sizable force, the harvesting operation cannot begin.

"If you find a Protoss, try to keep them alive" Biggs requested. "I want a live one for study"

"Abduction torpedoes are armed and ready." Naga informed "Just mark the target and we'll fire it away."

Raynor shrugged at that. These Protoss were neither Daelaam nor Nerazim. It would be fine with the Tal'darim. Yet something about them wanting to make a live autopsy… unsettled him.

At the abduction torpedo part, Horner became suspicious. They had kidnapped a living thing before. Something was not right about these aliens. Clearly they had did something. Something bad. Something sinister.

He kept on digging on anything that he could find on the network about these aliens. He just hoped that it wasn't what he guessed they were.

Returning to the field, a few Protoss Scouts were heading towards them, just in time for Swann to show off the Goliath's anti-air countermeasures. Rockets flew from the launchers on its shoulders, bringing down the shield and soon the hull of the Scouts.

But even then, the Goliath took considerable punishment.

Ever since they lost the Archons and majority of their ships, Gravac found themselves weakened in aerial combat. Sure, standard plasma gun would be able to shoot them down, but just that won't be enough. According to the archives, given by Raynor's permission, the Scout was a basic Protoss aircraft. Surely, there will be something a lot stronger later on.

He looked into the Cyberdisk, and then the rocket launchers on the Goliath. Maybe he could… improvise.

A few minutes later, Raynor sent a SCV to the first Terrazine geyser. And of course, the act did not go unnoticed. A squad of Protoss was sent toward the target, roughly with 4 Zealots.

" **Fire the torpedo!"** Noah signalled into the comm.

Abduction torpedo was launched, landed just in front of the Protoss. The Zealots were recovering, a bit shock in seeing a new object. It then opened up and released green vines that wrapped around the Protoss. They fought the restraints, trying to break free with their psi-blades, but like with the Humans, it was a futile attempt. It wrapped more and more, and once the sedative agent kicked in, they were knocked out.

"Got it." Biggs grinned "Now haul them in. I have some test to run"

In the meantime, Noah sent a Cyberdisk Constructor to another geyser. Raynor was yet to finish on his end. "Harvesting two geysers at once. Bold move, commanders" Tosh commented with a slight grin. He liked the risk takers.

Soon, the SCV had collected the first batch and delivered it to the Command Centre. But that came with a bad news. The Protoss began to seal the altars.

* * *

Biggs watched as the first Protoss was put on the operating table. Restraints were clamped on its limbs, preventing movements as much as possible. And for safety reasons, this operation will be performed in the X-ray's equivalent version of a Psi-lab. Psionic powers were unpredictable. Who knew what the Protoss can do with it?

"Okay… First Protoss subject ever…" he murmured. Live autopsy was never done before. He could barely hold his emotion.

The Protoss soon woke up and tugged at the restraints. "Seems like they are much more resilient to sedatives" Biggs noted.

"You!" The Protoss spoke "Release me now, you foul creature!"

Biggs could feel his sadist coming. When he was still a Sectoid Commander, he was really mad. He controlled a XCOM soldier to kill their own twice. He laughed at that, but it was his brother's death that snapped him to retirement.

And that feeling was rising.

"No" he said. He then pulled out a scalpel. "Why don't we stay a bit longer…?"

In the hallway, the crew could hear loud wailing and curses echoing all the way from the lab. No one dared to investigate at all.

* * *

Only the last two canisters to go, and one was on the move. Hauling done by the Cyberdisk Constructor was much slower due to their nature of movement. The Protoss Scouts were catching up.

Gravac grinned. "Noah. I'm dropping in our new Cyberdisk. Meet the Cyberdisk Flak Cannoneer.

A Cyberdisk descended from the orbit. It unfolded itself, revealing that it carried another set of cannons. These were modified plasma flak cannons. Although inaccurate and weak, the fast fire rate and area of effect should wear the shield down quickly.

And it did. The shield was removed quickly, leaving its hull exposed to pure firepower.

" **Thank you, Gravac"** Noah appreciated. " **Now we can deal with their aircrafts"**

* * *

The job was done. The team left Bel'shir in a hurry, as the Protoss were chasing after rather quick. A jump was all it took to lose them.

But Horner had an announcement to make. Someone had informed him. It was about Tosh. "Sir, I've received an encrypted transmission from an untraceable source" he said "It claims that Tosh here was a part of a classified operation called Project Shadowblade. They use Jorium and Terrazine to enhance Ghost's powers"

"It's true" Tosh nodded, unfolding his switchblade with profession. "We are called Spectres. Next generation Ghosts"

Raynor glared at Tosh. "And you are going to tell me all this when?"

"We all have our secrets, Mr. Raynor" Tosh replied "Doesn't mean I'm any threat to you"

"Maybe not" Raynor answered. Clearly, distrust was still there. "But whoever sent that message could be. Matt, anyway to verify the transmission?"

"No sir. But it does end with 'I'll be in touch soon'" Horner spoke.

"It's Mengsks" Tosh claimed "Trying to turn us against each other. Don't let him"

"I'll let it lie for now" Raynor replied. "At least until I find who sent out this transmission. But I'll be keeping an eye on you Tosh"

"You can try" Tosh said. And then he cloaked away and walked to the cantina. He perched the second floor as usual, watching the bar down below.

He began to think. Only a few would sent that message. He knew one Ghosts that would be the messenger.

" **I see you had gain yourself some trust issues"** Noah, out of nowhere, spoke just behind him.

Tosh didn't react much, as if he knew the Avatar was always there. "Yes…" he grumbled. "I may need your help"

" **What assistance do you require?"** Noah asked.

"Called it an insurance." Tosh answered. "I'll tell you more if you agree"

Noah nodded. " **I'm listening"**

The volume of the conversation then went to whispers. Once they finished discussing the deal, Noah nodded and left as Raynor came and chat with Tychus. He was about to talk to Tosh after that, but...

"Still don't trust me, brother. Until you decide, ain't nothing to discuss"

* * *

 **Autopsy report: Protoss**

 **By Head Scientist Biggs**

Carefully cutting them open while sustaining their lives was proven a challenge. Failure will be the lost of subject as the body evaporated away.

They do have organic traits: the organs, the tissues, the cells. Only significant trait was that all of these had psionic in the mix.

Clearly, all Protoss are born psionic, like the Ethereals and Sectoids. How powerful? That's a question for later.

* * *

 **Gravac Armory report**

New Unit unlocked: **Cyberdisk Flak Cannoneer**

Cost: 150 Minerals, 75 Vespene

I've modified the Cyberdisks to aid an anti-air defense. Human's flak cannon design intrigued me. Firing a timed explosive to erupt in mid-air to damage the aircraft with its fragmentation. Since plasma grenade rarely do fragmentations, improvises are needed.

Now, it fired a metal canister that held the plasma grenade. The blast should be enough to break the canister apart, creating fragments to spread.

* * *

 **Gravac Construction report**

New Building unlocked: **Augmentation Centre** \- Build robotic/vehicle units here. Require Cloning Facility


	11. THE VAULT

Chapter 11 - THE VAULT

Horner, as usual, put his hands on the star map, thinking various thoughts and things in his head. At the moment, his cloud was filled with X-rays. After more digging, he found an information. One that gave him a horrible itch.

2015\. The Invasion Day.

It was the day the X-rays attacked Earth, and the day the Earth's Extraterrestrial Combat organization named XCOM was activated to battle the space invaders. Terror and chaos erupted all over the planet. There were abductions and attacks committed by the aliens. The Sectoids, the Thin Men a.k.a. Vipers, the Chryssalid, th3 Mutons, and more... The war lasted a year or so, with XCOM as a victor.

But that victory was short lived. XCOM were soon betrayed by the council of Earth. They backed on an alien-loving coalition named ADVENT. The aliens settled down on Earth, and Humanity was under their subjugation.

Further data was still being analysed and studied. Horner wasn't sure to put trust in these aliens. All of the species on the Exodus were a match to those on the list. They had invaded Earth before. If they had almost put Earth on their knees, who knew how much the X-rays are capable of.

He might have to file the report later once all the database had been decrypted. Now, Raynor came in with a command. "Matt. Tell our friend to set the course for Xil" he ordered. "Let's grab ourselves another artifact"

* * *

A Mobius base set upon the cliffside. A titanic size cannon set on the edge, its gigantic barrel pointing straight at a structure on the far side of the chasm below.

No one were present at the base until the rumbling sound of the Siege Tanks drove into the base. They set themselves up near the two entrances, and dug in. Their treadmills lifted. Clamps extended and punched into the ground.

But Gravac also had his own surprises. Two Berserkers were sent down. Unlike the Hellfire variant, these ones were equipped with a pair of powerfists, with a brownish color scheme. They camped near the Siege Tanks, and dug in.

Horner then took control of the Drakken Laser Drill. The massive red hot ray launched forward directly at the structure, drilling the vault.

"There she goes" Swann whistled. "140 gigawatts. The power of the sun at your fingertip"

But the drill attracted attention. When some Protoss came across, the Siege Tanks were aiming. These Berserkers then roared and smashed the ground. Seismic tremor and cracking ground staggered the Protoss squad, bringing down its shield by little. Slowed, the Protoss could not evade the massive firepower of the Siege Tanks.

"Berserker Tremors" Gravac commented with pride in his chest "Thank you, Dr. Vahlen"

With the defense all set up and reinforced, the drilling proceeded normally. Scouts were sent to survey around and they found structures similar to the ones they were drilling. Because Horner was still in control, neither Raynor nor Noah could use it to burn the door down.

But then the scanners rang. A massive Protoss unit came. Biggs and Noah observed it, and was startled by it.

If the Terran database were right, this thing was called an Archon. Said being looked just like their Archon, only lacking the thrusters and flesh. They seemed to be pieces or armor holding together by the massive psionic energy it emitted.

Fearing of its high shield capacity, Horner gave over the controls of the laser drill to Raynor. As soon as he did, Raynor redirected the cannon, and fired at the Protoss Archon, vaporizing it in mere seconds.

The front door were yet to be breached. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Out of sight of everything, a Void Seeker flew towards the Hyperion. On board, Dark Prelate Zeratul looked at the nearby ship. Nothing in the Protoss archives had anything about it. Another visitors to the Kropulu sector, just like the Terrans before them.

Since both the ship and the Hyperion were idle, it could be assumed that they were allies. Nevertheless, Zeratul had something to discuss with Raynor, not with the newcomers. He gripped his wound on his arm tighter, feeling that the future he saw was drawing nearer.

The one that could determine the fate of the Kropulu sector as a whole.

-0-

"Aww hell" Raynor groaned. "That ain't no flyers. That's Warp Prisms! Take it down before they warp more Protoss in!"

Warp Prisms expanded itself, radiating its aura of power. On the ground, Protoss Zealots were warping in, getting pounded by Siege Tanks and Berserker Tremors. THe defense still held, but bunkers were getting scratches.

That wasn't all. The Protoss began to attack in stronger numbers, and some came with Colossi. Those massive robots were grazing grounds with their incinerating lasers.

Raynor didn't readjusted the Drakken. He was focusing on getting the last door breached. The other vaults were taken care off, the Protoss artifacts secured in the lab.

The final door slowly melted, and soon the path to the Xel'Naga artifact was clear. They called in extractions, and left the site immediately with the artifact in tow.

* * *

New Unit unlocked: **Berserker Tremor**

Cost: 125 Minerals, 75 Vespene

Requirement: Proving Ground, Berserker Arena

After looking into the Berserker Queen's powerfists, I managed to build a replica that should functioned the same. However, the Berserkers must be injected with muscle stimulants to produce massive strength. The Terran's Stimpaks were the best to offer so far.

However, the side effect of the Stimpaks cause us to restrain these Berserkers at maximum security on the ship. Apparently, they were literal berserk now unless being constantly given.

* * *

 **It was a short chapter, I know. It is always a long way before the scene that I really wanted to do would come.**

 **And for those who are wondering, this story is not dead. It just that I have a lot of story ideas, and I tried posting it down to see how it goes. I will try to make it to the Legacy of the Void. I promised.**

 **That would be all for now. NamThunder, signing out.**


	12. VISION AND MEMORIES, CRYSTAL

Chapter 12 - VISIONS AND MEMORIES, CRYSTAL

Raynor walked alone in a hallway. He was holding his flask in his hand. He was heading to the cantina as he did everytime on board the Hyperion.

But a blackout in the hallway wasn't included. And he was not drunk either.

Slowly, the lights began to shut off, one by one. Raynor stopped his drinking and stood still. Soon, the only lights was the one above him.

And he had an itch of being watched.

The came an echo, a voice of the one Raynor knew that it was from a certain Protoss he last met during the Brood War.

"James Raynor" Zeratul approached from the shadow. His green eyes glowed, piercing through the darkness "I bring tidings of doom"

"Zeratul" Raynor wasn't phased. He was familiar enough with the Dark Templar's stealth. He kept his distance though. Zeratul did have a big role to play in the Brood War, but he was the kind of person to just come and go.

"I have pierced the veil of the future and beheld only… oblivion" Zeratul continued. He still gripped on his wounded arm before he fell on one knee. Raynor knelt down to support him. "Yet one spark of hope remains. You will hold her life in your hands… And though justice demands that she dies for her crime, only she can save us"

"Wait a second" Raynor began to piece it together. There was only one woman who were wanted dead by all of Kropulu. "You're talking about Kerrigan?" He stood up. Anger was evident on his face. "It's been four years. You show up out of nowhere-"

Zeratul immediately caught Raynor's wrist and pulled him close. "Time is short! You must understand" he pleaded. He placed an object in Raynor's palm "The answers you seek lie within."

Raynor inspected the object. It was an Ihan Crystal, which allowed the viewer to watch memories that was stored inside. Zeratul wanted him to see what he saw, to see why Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades of the Zerg, must live.

"Study it well, the fate of creation hangs in the balance." Raynor looked up, seeing Zeratul walking back into the shadow. Once he was gone, the lights turned back on, returning the hallway to a normally lit one. And there was no Protoss anywhere

"Nice to see you too" Raynor remarked. Then, he turned to the laboratory to store the Ihan Crystal.

-0-

Raynor walked into the bar with massive weight of thoughts in his head, sitting down in his usual spot. He could use a drink or two to clear his head with that encounter with Zeratul. Tychus was drinking away as usual. Tosh perched from the second floor, looking at the crowd downstairs, like he always did.

Truth be told, Raynor was uncomfortable about these artifacts. Those Protoss seemed to guard it with their lives on the line, and even Kerrigan wanted them. Even the meeting with Zeratul gave him a feeling that these artifacts were more than just for payment.

"So now we've got three of these artifacts on my ship!" Raynor told Tychus "When are we supposed to hand these damn things over?"

"Well that's gonna be a bit tricky" Tychus replied "I hear the Zerg've attack the Moebius research center on Tyrador. I don't get it though. What's the Queen of Blades after? Ain't no artifact there"

That was bad. "If those eggheads can't hold out till we get there, we may never know" Raynor said "Upload the data to the star map. Looks like we've got ourselves a good old fashion rescue mission"

Raynor then moved up to talk to Tosh. The moment he entered, a question was raised.

"Had any… visitors lately?" Tosh asked

"I don't know what you're talking about" Raynor lied.

"Oh I think you do, 'James Raynor'" Tosh replied "Something was on this ship just now. I can still smell it on you" he sniffed a bit. "Protoss… Interesting…"

"Whatever you think you know, you just keep it to yourself" Raynor threatened. A good one, as the relation between Terran and Protoss was as strained as it was. "I hear you yappin' about this and I'll toss you out the airlock!"

"Don't worry, man. Your secret is safe with me" Tosh reassured. "And by the way, Noah left just before you came. He said he felt… something in the lab"

With that, Raynor broke into a sprint, dashing through the hall, tackling Kachinsky along the way. When he entered the lab, Noah was standing in front of the Ihan Crystal, just looking at it.

"Noah!" Raynor pulled Noah out. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Noah shook his head. " **Unsure…"** He replied " **Just felt… a familiar essence from that… device"** he pointed at the Ihan Crystal. " **Something that I must see"**

Raynor was close to drag his ass out of the lab and to an airlock. "Tell me why I shouldn't throw you out now?" he dared, grabbing Noah's jumpsuit.

Now Noah was struggling to answer. The truth was that it just feel like so. He couldn't really say it. He just need to see it. To uncover the information within.

" **Because… somewhat, I feel that… I have a link in it somewhere"** he explained. " **I know it is of Protoss… but something about it seems… Ethereal"**

Raynor would punch him for non-sense, but then halted. "Ethereal?"

" **That is what I really am, Raynor"** Noah said. " **This Avatar is just a vessel for me. I'll show you once we're done. Please, Raynor. I need to see what is in that device. I need to know why it felt familiar"**

Raynor let go. "Well… since I told you about Kerrigan, I'll let you watch the memories with me." he implied. "But if I find you looking at it yourself, I'll ban you from entering"

" **That is acceptable, Raynor. Thank you"** Noah nodded.

Both turned to the Ihan Crystal, and pierced into the memories within it.

"Zeratul…" Raynor muttered. "What the hell have you gotten yourself into?"

It took a blink for them to be elsewhere. The only activity in the room was Stetman doing his calculations.

-0-

 _On a remote rocky planet of Ulaan, Zeratul stood in front of a small structure. His psi-blade was his only light in this cavern, where the sun barely came through. Inscripted on the surface of the structure was a picture. An imagery of the creations of the Kropulu sector inscripted in stone._

 _On the left of the triangle, purple color beings of various sizes ascended the incline. "The Zerg Swarm came as foretold"_

 _On the right, blue creatures of various size rose up the incline as well. "Firstborn of the gods, rose to fight them"_

 _On the peak of the triangle, a large divine being rose above the two species. "Now, the Xel'Naga that forged us all, are returning"_

" _But do they came to save, or to destroy?" Zeratul asked himself. He had spent his years finding clues about the Xel'Naga's return. This was the first one he found._

 _But soon, he realized he was not alone._

 _He turned around. Vigilance in his eyes, he marched with caution deeper into the cavern._

 _Then came a hiss. A Hydralisk was around a corner. It swung its scythe towards him, but his blade was quicker. The torsa parted the tail._

 _Then came more Hydralisks. Zeratul vaulted over the second one and cut it. He then charged to the next two. He dodged the third one's swing, and battled the fourth. The psi-blade stabbed through its skull. The third Hydralisk hissed and attacked. Zeratul swung his psi-blade, cut off its claw, and used that same claw to pin the Hydralisk to the ground. It struggled to get up as he forced it down._

 _Then came a laughter. One he knew was now the leader of the Zerg._

" _I knew you would find your way here…" the Queen of Blades greeted with no welcome, her glowing eyes shone in the dark before revealing herself._

" _Your very presence defiles this place, Kerrigan" Zeratul spoke. He let go of the claw once the Hydralisk was nothing but lifeless._

" _Do you hear them, Zeratul?" Kerrigan taunted "Whispering from the stars? The galaxy will burn with their coming"_

" _Perhaps…" Zeratul said, disappearing into the shadow._

 _Kerrigan became high alerted when the Protoss disappeared. Stealth of the Nerazim was one that should not be overlooked. She did her best to seek the Dark Prelate, her prying eyes went everywhere._

 _Perching from a rock formation on the ceiling, Zeratul jumped forward, igniting his blade. "But you won't live to see it!"_

 _As if she knew, the Queen of Blades casted her psionic power on Zeratul, holding him in mid air. His blade was gone. "Please" she spoke with mockery in her tone. "Our petty little conflict mean nothing now. A storm is coming that cannot be stopped" A force hit on Zeratul's chest. He glanced at his unlit psi-blade, attempting to spark it again. "Fitting, that we should face oblivion together"_

" _Never!" The blade was lit and Zeratul swung at her. He lept off her and landed far, shattering the rock below his feet. The moment he landed, her right wing slid off and fell onto the ground._

 _Zeratul blinked away on to the higher ground. Kerrigan had managed to hurt him still. He gripped the wound on his right arm._

 _The Queen of Blades looked at him before feeling a Hydralisk under her hand. It hissed, like a dog barking at strangers, before it slid away under her command. "The end comes" she said in a completely calm tone "And when it finds me" She watched her wing regrew back into its shape. "I shall embrace it at last"_

 _As she and her Hydralisk guards went away into the darkness, Zeratul saw he should depart before more comes. "The prophecy is uncertain" he remarked. "There is always hope" He then climbed away to the surface. The fate of the Kropulu sector weighed heavily on his shoulder._

-0-

 _The Queen of Blades brought her Zerg with her wherever she goes. The surface was being infested as time went on. Zeratul had more pieces prophecy to uncover, and he had to find them and leave before this planet fall to the Swarm._

 _Alone, in the shadow among the Zerg, he ran. He watched as the Overseers patrolled the skies, and Spore Crawlers settled their roots into the ground. The Zerg were blind to his cloak unless those things caught him in their detection._

 _As he proceeded to the end, he had gathered 2 pieces of the prophecy. However, the path to the final piece was filled with Zerg. Fortunately, he was greeted with an ally._

" _En Taro Tassadar Zeratul. I am High Templar Karass" said the high templar. Behind him were a company of warriors "My force tracked the Queen of Blades to this world. Yet we do not know what she seeks"_

" _Kerrigan and I were both drawn here to uncover an ancient prophecy." Zeratul explained "With your aid, I pray we can discover it before her"_

" _It is an honor, great one. Lead on!" Karass cheered._

 _Thus, the Protoss forces charged into the mass of Zerg. Zeratul stuck to the shadow and infiltrated his way behind the enemy, assisting without breaking his stealth. Soon, the Zerg were broken. The path to the final piece was clear._

 _Zeratul stood in front of the pyramid like structure. It lit up, flooding him with the knowledge of the prophecy. "The final piece of the prophecy. It speaks of the one who shall… 'Break the cycle of the gods…'"_

 _Karass came forth. "Most ominous" he said "But if the Queen of Blades seeks this prophecy, we must keep it from her"_

" _The rest is obscured…" Before he could say more, he felt a strong psionic presence. "What?"_

 _On the cliff stood the Queen of Blades, catching all the Protoss' eyes. "You might peel away the prophecy's layer, Zeratul" she spoke. "But you cannot outrun the doom that awaits us all!"_

 _At the end of the speech, thousands of Zerg shot out of the ground. Shrieks of flying Zergs began to draw near. They were completely outnumbered._

" _We cannot prevail against so many!" Zeratul shouted._

 _It was Karass who spoke up. "I will stand against the Queen of Blades while you escape with the fragments!"_

" _I will not abandon you!" Zeratul refused._

 _Karass put his hand on the Dark Prelate. "The prophecy is more important than either of us! Reveal its secrets, Zeratul! The future rest on it!" He then left with his men, toward the onslaught that would be his doom._

 _Zeratul, with heavy hearted burden, ran away. "Your sacrifice will not be forgotten…" he mourned "Brother" He made a break for his Void Ranger. He entered the pilot seat, and flew away before any Zerg could catch up._

 _Zeratul could not decipher the fragments alone. However, he knew a help he could seek. The Preservers of Zhakul._

" _If they cannot... I fear this entire universe will burn"_

-0-

Reality snapped back into both Raynor and Noah. Both haven't noticed the time they spent looking at Zeratul's memory. Raynor left to the bridge to ask Horner about it, while Noah didn't move an inch. His eyes still remained on the Ihan Crystal. He asked to himself...

" **Is this… the Great Threat?"**

-0-

Above Mar Sara, which now had been infested as a whole, there was a distortion in space.

Then, entered the Avenger.


	13. THE COMING OF AN END

Chapter 13 - THE COMING OF AN END

Central woke up. His stasis chamber opened. He stepped out and took of his suit. The Commander was the first to be up though, as his suit was on the table. The leader of XCOM was currently sitting opposite of him, giving a smirk

"Guess this is what it's like to sleep for 20 years" he murmured. He could use a painkiller and a cup of coffee.

Central and the Commander then began their patrol. Various crew began to wake up. Medical staffs began inspection of all operatives. Most were going for the bridge to see the space outside. None of them had been to space before, and they wanted to see it.

They found Tygan busying himself with the Hyperwave Relay. "Hello, Central. It's been a long time"

"God, you didn't age a bit" Central spoke.

"You too, Central. Still grey like when I joined you" Tygan replied. "I'll keep on trying to find the Exodus. It could take a while, since we do not have the map of this system or its neighboring systems"

Central smiled. "Keep up the good work doctor"

"You too" Tygan said "I suggest you go talk to engineer Shen. I think she's… expecting you"

Central and the Commander then headed for the engineering. In there stood a SPARK in orange color that was doing a maintenance check on other deactivated SPARKs, but no sign of Lily Shen.

"SPARK" Central called. "Where's Shen?"

The SPARK turned to him. "You're looking at her, Central"

Both of them stood still, with Central's face stuck in a shock. "What…? Why?"

"I know it is not what you think, but someone had to keep maintenance of the Avenger and its stasis chambers for 500 years. But Humans do not live that long. So I transfer myself into a SPARK platform" Lily explained "It was a long shot, but it worked. I've not told you about this because I know you would stop me. You fear to lose me like how we lose my father."

"Shen…" Central spoke up.

"Don't worry about it" Shen reassured. "I'm still me in every way, Central. I'm doing this for my father. For XCOM. For Earth"

The Commander patted Central shoulder, who sighed in defeat afterwards. "Nice to see you Shen"

"You too, Central. Commander" Lily then turned back to checking on the SPARK BITs

Central and the Commander then left to the bridge. To everyone's nightmare, Central returned to the pilot seat. The Commander sat in front of the holo-map, fastening his seat belt.

It's time to finish this. Once and for all.

"So, what now?" asked a crew member.

That was a good question. They were in the middle of nowhere. What now?

* * *

Horner was uncomfortable. It wasn't his first, but nevertheless, it was uncomfortable.

He and Raynor were in the Exodus' elevator. Horner never liked it. To be surrounded by aliens that had attacked Earth before. The only thing keeping him from panicking was Raynor himself.

God… He thought, it's like Deadman's Port all over again.

Naga had escorted the two to Noah's quarters. She turned and gave a warning. "Now remember" she said "No matter what you saw, this secret must not leave to anyone else."

"Promised" Raynor agreed.

Naga then opened the door. The two Terran were then in an awe.

Standing there was Noah, but not the Avatar they saw. This one was the Ethereal, a frail thin creature wearing red robe and respirator mask. It was lightly floating off the ground, looking at them.

Naga then locked the door behind them. Horner stepped closer to Raynor than ever. Raynor couldn't help but chuckled. "Why you never do that with Mira?"

"Sir, you know how I regretted winning that card game" Horner argued.

" **Raynor, Horner"** Noah spoke " **Finally, we met in person"**

"Yeah…" Raynor said "You looked different than I thought. I thought you would be kind of like Protoss or something"

" **My scientists had studied the Protoss"** Noah informed. " **I assure you, we are not related… but…"**

"But what?" Raynor asked.

Noah had to let it off his chest. " **It's just an assumption, but… I believed that our kind, the Ethereal, were created by the Xel'Naga"**

If they had a drink, they would have spat it out. "What?" Horner asked.

" **Long ago, we used to have a tale about a Great Threat that looms ahead. Our ancestors travelled the stars to planets, subjugating the species you saw on board"** Noah explained. " **Sectoids, Vipers, Mutons… We gathered them, rallied them in many ways. But we came to the final piece. You Humans"**

"So that's why you came to Earth" Raynor concluded.

" **Yes"** Noah nodded. " **We planned to subjugate and uplift you, but you fought back. So much that we were forced to leave to find an ally to take Earth back and prepare the battle of the Great Threat. But it never happened. We came here, and met you. You know the rest"**

Hornor raised a question. "And what of this Great Threat you people talked about that make you attack Earth!?"

Raynor put his hand over Hornor. "Calm down!" He then turned to Noah. "Yeah. What is it?"

" **The Elders, my previous leaders… They tell tales of the end times"** Noah narrated. " **A divine being will rise from its slumber. It will ascend to the top with the blood of its kith and kin. It will create monsters, a perfect organism as it see fits One by one, those in the monster's way fell. Some corrupted into its submission. Once the resistance is no more, only those deemed worthy by the god will live. The rest will die, gone into dark oblivion"**

Raynor and Hornor took it in. "Now that's interesting, but I still don't get it" Raynor asked. "That story… sounds more like a prophecy to me"

" **That's is what I fear, Raynor"** Noah implied " **Fear that we are facing what even the Ethereals are not ready for. And that this fear… had held the fate of the Kropulu sector in its hands"**

Horner and Raynor looked at each other. "Should we tell the Protoss about this?" Horner wondered.

"Let's not" Raynor replied "They won't believe that their gods would be their doom until they see it. It would be an insult to tell them anyway. With our current affairs, it's best not to tell them" He turned turned to Noah. "But if we're going to find out more about this Great Threat, we need to know what Zeratul wants us to know"

" **Remember, Raynor. This secret must not leave to anyone"** Noah warned.

"We'll keep it" Raynor promised. "Come on, Horner. "Let's get to New Folsom. Tosh's waiting long enough"


	14. OF GHOST AND SPECTRE

Chapter 14 - OF GHOST AND SPECTRE

New Folsom. A planet turned prison. The tightest and most secure prison within the Terran Dominion. No one had broke out of it, ever. Murderers and psychos were kept here, and now, those who opposed or being a potential threat to Mengsk were locked in there too.

That message was a ruse, Tosh knew. Nova dared to sway Raynor to betray him. Even right now, he could feel Raynor's uncertainty. He could feel it. A metaphorical blade was already behind him.

" **Tosh"** Noah informed from behind him " **Your insurance is ready"**

"Let's do this then" Tosh grinned before cloaking away.

* * *

She could see Tosh's Spectre training facility from this height. All of Tosh's men patrolling the area. The Jorium and Terrazine storages, and the facility to train those dangerous psi operatives.

If Mengsk wanted it destroyed, he'll have it. Now, she waited for an opportunity.

Dominion Ghost November Terra, went by her codename Nova, waited patiently. Her eyes on the scope, keeping notes on their routines.. She heard of Tosh's little contract with Raynor. She had sent them a message. Hopefully, it would break their trust apart.

Then she got a call from New Folsom. "Ma'am. We've spotted the Hyperion. What are your orders?"

"Stand by for orders" she commanded, getting her visor on. "I'm gonna talk to them"

On the visor's HUD, she could see a feed of the Hyperion's bridge. Matt Horner and the infamous Jim Raynor. Those two were on Mengsk's kill list. Too bad, they weren't her marks today.

Today is all about Gabriel Tosh.

"Well, well. The infamous Jim Raynor" she introduced "My name is Nova. We should talk"

"Now what would one of Mengsk's pet-Ghosts have to say to me?" Raynor asked.

Perfect, they wanted to know. "Tosh is lying to you" Nova declared.

"Put Tosh on comms" Raynor ordered his men "I'm sure he's listening anyway. Encrypted or not."

True to his word, a screen came up. The face of Tosh was present on the screen. He was clearly not happy to see her.

"We Spectres be the future!" he spoke "You just couldn't handle it, little girl"

No matter, Nova got to get Raynor on her side. "Every Ghost that became a Spectre had gone on a psychotic killing spree. The one's I've captured are held in New Folsom" She claimed. It wasn't true, but who knew. If she knew Tosh well, she knew he didn't tell Raynor about it.

"Don't listen to her brother" Tosh shot back "Help me bust the Spectres from New Folsom, and we'll bring down Mengsk together!"

"Tosh wants to reactivate his Spectre buddies using the substances you helped him collect" Nova mentioned. "New Folsom is full of psychopathic killers. Do you really want to release them into the galaxy?"

"I be helping you against Mengsk, and my people will too" Tosh added. "She won't even join you"

"He's a psychotic time bomb." Nova lied. Tosh always kept his promise, but that did not matter. "He'll be on your side until he puts a knife in your back"

"This be the moment of truth" Tosh said "Make your choice"

* * *

Raynor's thoughts swayed. He didn't trust Tosh completely. He had never tell a lot about his Spectre. Meanwhile, Nova was a Dominion Ghost. There were chances that her intel was a lie, and this was nothing more than her doing her job to gain his favor.

A choice must be made. Choice that he had to choose wisely.

Meanwhile, out of sight of the two psi ops, Noah was listening to the conversation. He could feel the shifting dilemma within Raynor's mind. He was waiting for the answer.

And the vote went to Nova.

Tosh, outraged and betrayed, ended the feed immediately. Nova smiled at Raynor's support. She then went ahead on destroying the facilities.

Noah grabbed a radio and called. " **The bait is hooked"**

* * *

When Nova went to work, she did it swiftly, flawlessly, and ruthlessly.

None of the men knew what hit them. A sniper bullet zipped into their visors was the last thing they witnessed. And none escaped her scope alive, or saw her coming.

She went through the checklist like target practice. Sabotage the Jorium storage, checked. Destroy the Terrazine storage, checked. Nuking the Spectre training facility with Tosh's very own nuclear rocket, checked.

Last on the list… Kill Gabriel Tosh.

In her cloak, she entered Tosh's shuttle without any alarms. She snuck towards the cockpit slowly, holding a knife in her hand. He clearly made a run for it, to preserve what was left of the Spectres, bugging away from Raynor's Raiders for light years already.

Idiot. Like she said, none escaped her scope alive.

* * *

"Incoming transmission"

"Patch him through"

Raynor and Horner answered the call. They were looking at Tosh. His eyes was fueled with rage. "You're gonna pay for that, man" He held a doll with a skull painting on the head, clearly resembled one on his armor's visor, and a marshall badge.

A voodoo doll. A hexed doll that linked the pain to who it resembled to. And this one resembled Raynor.

"Is... that supposed to be me?" Raynor asked nervously.

Tosh unfolded his knife. "You're gonna regret crossing me" His blade aimed at the back of the doll, and he drove it down into the back of the doll.

* * *

Tychus was trying a new thing, drinking in the Exodus' cantina. Their drinks were a bit weird, but the Berserker's Quake kicked much harder than whiskey.

And he jumped off his seat after feeling a prick in his back.

* * *

Raynor didn't flinch. He kept staring at Tosh. "You're a scumbag, Tosh. I spent my whole life fighting men like you"

Seeing no result on Raynor, Tosh threw the doll away.

* * *

Suddenly, Tychus lost balance and was flung across the room.

* * *

"Huh. You and me. We're just the same" Tosh said, reclining in his seat. "We'll both do anything to get the job done"

"No" Raynor replied "You don't get it at all. And now, you never will"

"What you gonna do, man?" Tosh dared "I'm six light years away"

Raynor smirked. "No. Not me"

Then came a stab. Blood trickled down Tosh's head. His body went limp and slumped against the console.

Nova pushed it away. She could see Horner's look of fear, and Raynor's satisfaction. She sat down in the seat.

"Huh. Cold and efficient." Raynor commented. "Reminded me of someone I used to know. Glad you're not after me"

"Not today anyway" Nova replied, taking off her visor. "I'll see you around, Jim"

When she went off screen, Horner asked, "Don't you ever meet any normal girls?"

* * *

Nova played with Tosh's switchblade as she grabbed the doll. She looked at it as she cloaked away.

She grinned. One day, Raynor. One day, she'll come for him.

She drove the blade into the doll's ass.

* * *

On the Exodus, a scream can be heard throughout the ship. It was loud and much more high pitched than the Sectoids or the Chryssalids.

Since then, Tychus never set foot on the Exodus ever again.

* * *

Nova walked away. Her mission was accomplished. New Folsom remained as it is, and Project Shadowblade was no more.

She got a call. "This is Nova. Go ahead"

"Hello, little girl"

Nova stopped. She knew that voice. That dead man's voice. "Tosh?"

"You thought I would be so foolish, don't you" Tosh spoke, humor in his tone "Too bad. I made an insurance in case this happens. I suggest you look at New Folsom now, little girl."

Nova looked into her HUD and saw a feed. New Folsom under attack by unknown intruders. Not Terran. Not Zerg. Not Protoss. Not anything she knew at all. These new aliens had managed to break into New Folsom while she was here destroying Tosh's facility

"Still, your facilities are gone. You have no Jorium or Terrazine. You have no way to train your men" Nova shot back "Your Spectres are no more, Tosh!"

Tosh laughed. "I've moved that facility weeks ago. My new brothers volunteered to help me rebuild the Spectres. They allowed me to build the training facility, but in return, I help them train Spectres."

Nova was too preoccupied. She never noticed 'Tosh's' corpse rose up and began to melt. Its height increased and its skin lost features. Now, a Faceless stood there, slowly marching to Nova.

"Don't worry about New Folsom, little girl." Tosh mocked. "I'll take good care of my brothers and sisters. Now, I suggest you watch your back."

Nova turned around, and was met with a smack.

* * *

Tosh grinned. Watching that girl triggering the trap was amusing. Her reaction was priceless. She had never expected it coming.

Noah's Faceless was a very good alien. An alien capable of forming into anything. A replica of a person with no differences aside from combat capability and psionic. But nothing a psi emitter cannot fixed.

A perfect decoy of Tosh just for Nova.

"Noah. This will expose us, you know that" Naga said.

" **I know"** Noah nodded. " **Everyone will know who we are now. But it's inevitable. At one point, we have to make ourselves known"**

Naga shrugged and turned to the Spectre. "So, Tosh. You are officially dead" she asked. "What are you going to do now?"

"Now" Tosh started, playing with his knife. "The Spectres will rise from its ashes. We'll kill Mengsk, and burn their Dominion to the ground"

" **Yes, Tosh"** Noah agreed. " **We'll bring him down one way or another"** He turned to Naga. " **Naga, open the psi gate and send the political prisoners to the Hyperion. The Raiders will know what to do with them"**

"Already on it" Naga replied "Horner was surprised we dare breaking into New Folsom alone. He wanted to know how we did it."

Noah looked at Tosh. " **Let's say we just did"**

Tosh was not offended at all. After all, no one ever sees a Spectre.

* * *

Raynor was mad at himself. Nova lied to him. Dr. Hanson just told him that Jorium and Terrazine didn't make Spectre a psycho. It was purely personality that made them so.

He should've trusted Tosh. He really should. Now Tosh was dead, and he'll not be coming back anymore.

When he came to the psi gate room, however, he saw people walking out of it. None of them were his crew. Horner was standing there, overseeing the checking in with some of his crew.

"Matt" Raynor asked. "What is this?"

Horner could only replied, "A better future, Jim"

* * *

 **Gravac Armory report**

New Unit unlocked - **Terran Spectre**

"You help freeing my brothers and sisters. Now we will help you in return" - Gabriel Tosh

Tosh's Spectre so far are the only Human unit within our rank. Psionic wise, they are weaker than the Avatar, but its was their stealth that make them strong. Destructive psionic boosted by Jorium and Terrazine, and their excellent stealth proficiency, make them a valuable soldier. Our enemies won't know what hit them.

After all, no one ever sees a Spectre.


	15. NOAH VS KERRIGAN

Chapter 15 - NOAH VS KERRIGAN

"Breaking news. Reports coming in today suggest… What's that? We're going to Kate? But I…"

"The Dominion's highest-value prisoners are loose tonight after a daring raid broke open New Folsom prison. Dominion Security Forces are on high-alert, as some of the prisoners were former members of Project Shadowblade, which we're discovered to be a subversive off-shoot of the Dominion's Ghost program. A number of political dissidents were also freed during the attack"

"Do we know who did this, Kate? Was it Raynor's Raiders"

"That's a good question Donny. Because the evidence showed it's not the Raynor's Raiders. In fact, we're facing a different kind of threat here"

"What do you mean, Kate?"

"The corpses of the attackers are of completely different species. I believe we've met another alien faction, Donny"

"There you have it. Enemy unknown. What are they and why are they here? Hear it first from Donny Vermillion on UNN, live from Korhal."

* * *

Arcturus Mengsk had just watched the news from his quarters. Media. Number one tool to control people, and gathering intel. Also, a tool to find the threat to his throne among the Dominion citizen.

But the latest news gave him a stir. New alien threat of the Dominion. Their success in breaking into New Folsom showed that these things are not weaklings.

And he knew it wasn't a random attack either. New Folsom held a lot of those who opposed his rule. And it was a full scale attack, not a raiding party. He suspected that this new enemy… was working with Raynor.

Raynor… Mengsk made a fist with a strength that might crack the glass. That bastard is still a goddamn nuisance. Just like that Zerg bitch.

He made a call. "Mr. Findley. Give me the intel on these aliens. That's an order"

* * *

Haven was building up nice and steady. Raynor's Raiders and X-rays gave them hope. When the news about New Folsom flashed onto the screen, they cheered in celebration that another faction had stood up against the Dominion tyranny.

Unknown to them, a massive fleet was heading towards them from Protoss space.

* * *

"You did see that news just now, right? Right" Central asked. He managed to tune the frequency to find UNN channel.

"I'm surprised we're not the only Human here" Lily said. "But seems like the Ethereal never changed. They still terrorize people as usual"

"Tygan, have you managed to find the Exodus?" Central turned around.

"Yes I did, Central" Tygan answered.

"Good" Central smiled. "Set course to the Exodus. Let's finish this, people"

* * *

Tyrador's defenses were holding, for now. The Zerg were tearing deeper through the defenses. Streets were getting covered in Creep. Zerg creatures began to roam the city. Soon, they will reach the research centers.

Moebius Corps were packing up for evacuation, taking all the copies of their research data related to the artifacts with them. Dr. Emil Narud had sent the purge teams to destroy the data cores to erase the files they copied. The Queen of Blades must not had her hands on it. If she do, he feared for the worst.

When Narud saw the Hyperion arrived along with another ship, he stared at the screen. He could feel a massive psionic pulsing from the other one. One he knew long ago.

"So the Flawed Ones returns…" he murmured. This could mean trouble. Nevertheless, he had a call to make with Raynor.

* * *

The Exodus and the Hyperion jumped into the orbit of Tyrador. Most of it were covered in Zerg already. Some Zerg were seen orbiting the planet as well. Terran ships were seen exiting the atmosphere. They were running as fast as the ship's thrusters could.

A transmission came. Raynor answered the call. Dr. Narud was on screen.

Somewhat, Noah had a feeling that he had seen him from somewhere before. Something was off about this Human.

"Commander Raynor! Thank the stars, you've come! And you've brought more help too!" Narud started. "You had a sterling reputation as a Marshall years ago and I know you'll do the best to help us"

"Well, that was long time ago, Doctor" Raynor commented. "Looks like you've got one heck of a Zerg problem here. Where do you need us?"

Worry fell on Narud's face. "We're ready to evacuate, but none of the teams I sent to purge the Foundation data cores have reported back! I need you to destroy those cores before the Queen of Blades finds them and discovers the coordinates of the remaining artifacts! The fate of the entire sector could hang in the balance!"

The call was cut short as the screen buzzed. The scene shifted to the Zerg's base.

"Class twelve psi-pattern detected. Recommend extreme caution"

All of the crew could feel dread when a pod splashed the ground, revealing…

" **Kerrigan"** Raynor and Noah spoke.

This was bad. Real bad. The Queen had come to take the data herself. They were not ready to face her.

" **Raynor, we have to hurry."** Noah said " **We cannot let her had the data"**

"Yeah" Raynor nodded. "We've got to move"

* * *

The area of operation was in chaos. The Zerg had taken too much ground. Creeps were everywhere, with Crawlers rooting themselves in. Ground troops won't be able to break through the swarm. Even the base itself was getting breached by Nidus Worms.

Narud sent some of his Medivac to help transporting the troops around, avoiding any Zerg tight spots. However, limited resources meant that they can train a few troops.

Fortunately, Narud's men were still fighting, trying to reach their target. With their forces, they took the first building down.

However, the head start didn't stop Kerrigan from pressing on. She was literally tearing through all the science buildings, even one without the data cores. That may delayed her, but eventually, she'll come to the one with the data core. They had to hurry.

* * *

Noah was heading to the armory. His gun was holstered on his back along with his psi amp. " **Gravac, do you have the Templar's gauntlet?"**

"Which?" Gravac asked. "The Protoss one or XCOM?"

" **XCOM"** Noah answered.

Gravac scrounged through his pile. He then grabbed a pair of gauntlets and tossed them to Noah. The Avatar then strapped the gauntlets, and then unsheathed them, revealing their blades.

"Wait, you're going to go down there?" Gravac guessed.

" **If I must"** Noah answered, retracting the blades.

"You're not train in close combat!" Gravac mentioned. "She'll beat you!"

" **My psionic pars with her"** Noah replied. " **I can hold her back until all the data cores are destroyed."**

"That's suicide!" Gravac shouted.

" **The war XCOM waged against us was also suicide!"** Noah argued. " **I'll take my chances"**

Before Gravac could shot back, Noah was gone, teleported using his psionic.

* * *

"This is purge team 2, we're near the second data core! We could use some help here!"

"Ultralisks!"

"Give everything you got!"

"Assistance required!"

"Nidus Worm! Shoot it! Shoot it!"

"I'm in a world of hurt!"

"Somebody, get me out of this…!"

There goes another Medivac. Raynor gritted his teeth. His fists gripped tightly. It was hard to maneuver through the Zerg's defenses. Even if they made it past the Spore Crawlers and Hydralisks, the roaming Mutalisks became the next pain.

"At this rate, we won't get the last one done" Horner noted with fear in his tone. They managed to purge the second one, although not without losses. However, the last data cores were deep in the Zerg's infestation. There were high ground near it, not to mention the entrenched Zerg hive. Reinforcements were not getting through, as Medivacs were getting shot up.

And with the Queen of Blades getting closer, it was getting more hopeless.

But then came a light. A purple light.

* * *

The final building should have it. Kerrigan was sure of it. The Terrans were so desperate to destroy it, so there must be something in there.

She marched down the street into an opening. In the sky, Medivacs were trying to get through while getting damaged. What a fruitless attempt. Doom awaited all of them.

Then a pillar of purple light erupted in front of her.

The Queen of Blades stopped and watched as the light faded, revealing a Terran in a black jumpsuit and a purple visor mask. However, the psionic emitting from him was parring to hers. It was literally impossible. She was class 10 as a Terran, the highest and rarest they can be. The Zerg remade her into a class 12. Psionic level that high would've killed the Terran.

And there were also something more about him. Something she couldn't piece together.

" **The Queen of Blades"** he said " **Or should I say Sarah Kerrigan"**

Kerrigan grinned. "I see Jim told you about me." She could tell he was not stupid to come alone to fight her. He was here to stall her, to buy Raynor the time.

She ordered her Zerg to focus on the Terrans. She'll deal with this nuisance herself.

* * *

"What's Noah doing?" Horner asked, watching Noah and Kerrigan meeting each other.

"He's buying us time." Raynor replied "All right. We better stock up. I want more Medivacs and hire some mercenaries. This may be our only chance!"

* * *

"Tell me" Kerrigan said "What's your name? So I can remember you when I cut you into pieces like the rest of the Terrans"

" **Noah"** Noah replied.

Kerrigan chuckled. "Very well, Noah. Time to embrace your death"

She sprinted towards him, her clawed hands open. Noah unsheathed the psi-blades and teleported away before Kerrigan could pounce him. Appearing behind her, he attacked.

The Queen of Blades, by instinct, turned and took the slash of the blade. Her carapace was holding. She retaliated, swung her wings at Noah. One managed to pierce into his flesh.

Noah teleported away. He knew it was a losing battle, but he had to hold on. He casted psionic lance at her, piercing through her to a Hydralisk in the way of the lance. He charged in to attempt another slash, but Kerrigan used the psionic grip on him, stopping him a few meters away from her.

"You are a very strange Terran." she said "Your blades are not of Protoss."

" **That's because I am not"** Noah implied. He broke the grip and tried to slice, only for her to dodge it. " **And I am not a Terran either"**

"Then what are you?" The Queen of Blades asked with a grin. She ran up to him and clawed his chest, leaving a claw mark on it. Orange blood began to leak.

" **I'm the Avatar"** Noah spoke. He casted a void rift at her location. The radius was too large and Kerrigan was caught in it.

However, she was still standing. She ran up and opened her wings. Then she clamped all the tips down at him. They pierced through the body. Noah grunted in excruciating pain.

Kerrigan laughed. "I thought you would be a challenge"

If he had no visor, she would see him grin. " **I am"**

Then it flared to her. She looked at the final building, watching it crumbled down. Terran Medivacs were leaving the area. Their buildings were lifting off, although all of the alien's structures remained as the Zerglings chewed their walls. But the message was clear. They had destroyed the data from her.

Before she could do anything, she felt pain all over her wings. Noah used his blades to cut it off. He knelt to the floor, and teleported back to the Exodus before the Queen of Blades could strike him.

As her wings regrew and her carapace regenerated, she watched the Hyperion and the Exodus departed. She thought about this Noah. She knew that wasn't all of him. There was more to him than meets the eye, something more than what he said himself to be the Avatar.

That did not matter though. They will all die in the end. She returned to her Leviathan and headed back to Char.


	16. RECOVERY

Chapter 16 - RECOVERY

Noah's Avatar was placed in the pod in his room, suspended in liquid as it underwent repairs and recovery. The vitals on his Ethereal body was stable. However, with all the pain he endured in his fight with the Queen of Blades, he was in a coma.

Naga, Gravac, and Biggs stood outside the room, each showed clear signs of worry. The news about Noah's injuries and coma reduced morale of the crew. Some had stopped working in depression. Many began to ask whether will he recover or not.

"He gave us more hope than I thought" Naga said, feeling sorry. "I should've been nicer to him. Will he pull through, Biggs?"

"He will" Biggs nodded. "However, from the look of it, even if he made a full recovery, if the Avatar took more punishment like the last one… I doubt it will last. To repair an Avatar, it needed a lot of Human's DNA. Enough that they could call it a genocide."

Gravac sighed. "He better make it. I'm gonna be in engineering, designing a new rifle for the Vipers. They requested me to"

"I'll see to the Lazarus amp test" Biggs notified. "Will try to get an Archon back or something"

"I'll be on the bridge if you need me" Naga said.

The three returned to their duties. Only time will tell when their leader will wake up. The only commotion left there was a shimmering spectral outline of a Terran

* * *

 _The Protoss had fled from Tarsonis, but New Gettysburg was getting swarmed over by the Zerg. Their number was endless, and coming without a pause._

 _Former Confederate Ghost Operative Sarah Kerrigan ran through the field under her cloak. Her troops were getting overrun. She needed evac now._

" _This is Kerrigan. We've neutralized the Protoss, but there's a wave of Zerg advancing on this position. We need immediate evac"_

 _Squeals and screeches of Zerglings were closing in. Kerrigan shot a group of them flanking her, but then forced to take cover when a Hydralisk suppressed her. She ran behind cover, firing blind over it._

 _Then the concrete wall crumbled before her. Another Hydralisk slithered through and hissed, showing its teeth and fangs._

 _She shot it in an instant reaction._

 _First shot hit the mandible, torn it off._

 _Second hit its body._

 _Third bullet pierced the head, and it fell to the ground._

 _And all that followed were the clicking of her gun._

 _It was bad news. She's out of ammo. "Uh… boys. How about that evac?"_

 _Nothing. The only noise she heard was the nukes going off outside the city and the storming wind of Tarsonis._

" _Commander? Jim? What the hell is going on up there?" Kerrigan asked louder. Something was wrong. The signal was clear without any interference. Someone had to hear her. Why no one is responding to her?_

 _Then came more screeches and squeals. Rumbling footsteps were trampling over to her position, getting louder as the seconds ticked by. Kerrigan used her visor's HUD to see through the storm. Thousands of Zerg of various size and shape were seen coming like a stampede. She looked left and right, and only saw more Zerg. Even the sky was overcast with flying Zergs. No Terrans were in sight._

 _This was it. Her end. She took off the visor and closed her eyes. She was alone, surrounded by the Zerg, with no way out, and no evac coming._

 _Mengsk had left her to die with the Zerg he lured in to destroy the Confederate. He used her. He used her just like how the Confederate used her. As a tool. To be discarded when she had no more use to them._

 _Could it be revenge? For arguing about the use of the Psi Emitter? Or maybe, for killing his parents? Did Mengsk just left her to die as a revenge?_

 _Her hand loosened its grip. Her rifle dropped to the floor. She gave one last look up to the sky before closing her eyes, ready to embrace the incoming demise._

 _Her last thought… She thought of Jim._

 _And then… darkness._

* * *

Raynor woke up with a sudden jolt. His hands knocked a bottle of whiskey off the table by accident. He was too slow to stop its movement.

But the shatter never came. Horner caught it before it hit the floor, and set it back on the table. Jukebox music and chatters blared in the background.

Raynor rubbed his forehead. That dream again. It kept coming back, no matter how much he drink away to forget. It seemed as if it will never end, or maybe he had never let go of it.

As a friend and second-in-command of the Raynor's Raiders, Horner understood what Raynor had been through. He and Raynor were one of the oldest members of the Raiders. He defected from the Dominion and stole the Hyperion from its fleet to support this revolution. He knew about Jim and Sarah's relationship. He knew what happened on Tarsonis. He knew Mengsk must be removed from power, one way or another.

But Kerrigan was a different matter. The Queen of Blades was a Zerg to Horner's eyes, but for Jim to see her turned into that monster, it was hard and heartbreaking for him. Raynor was told to leave her behind by Mengsk, and there was nothing he could do to save her on that day. When the chance to rescue her came, she was already something else. Sometimes, he wished she was dead instead of this. That was when his drinking start.

He grabbed the bottle, but felt a tug. Horner was holding on it still. "I've been cleaning up after you a lot lately" he said.

When he let go, Raynor poured another round into the glass. "Leave it alone, Matt" he said and drank it down.

Horner knew. He grabbed a seat and sat down. "Same dream?"

"I said leave it alone" Raynor insisted

"What happened to Kerrigan wasn't your fault..." Horner reassured

Raynor looked at him. "Which part? Where she got left behind, or where she murdered eight billion people."

"Same old bullshit" Horner replied "You ain't going to listen" He then put Raynor's marshal badge on the table, and headed to the exit. "Man, do you even see what you are becoming?"

"We are who we chose to be, Matt" Raynor spoke, pouring another round.

"When you've figured it out, let us know" Horner said "We're waiting on you" He then left the cantina.

Raynor looked at his badge. He, an outlaw and rebel, was chosen to be the marshal of Mar Sara. He chose to be the hero to fight against the Dominion's tyranny.

Horner was right. What was he now?

* * *

Tychus was feeling uneasy about this task. Apparently, Mengsk wanted him to find any intel on the X-rays and sent it to him. Sure, he didn't force this one with the death suit, but the man sounded really pissed off. He demanded the data sent to him ASAP.

He didn't want to go to the Exodus again. Not after what happened back there. The medics said there was nothing wrong about him or the drink he consumed, but he was sure that something was in that drink. It hurt, specifically the one in his butt.

Thus, he made his way up alone to the Hyperion's bridge when the captain was not on deck. He access the archives, and downloaded the database about X-rays. Once done, he sent it to the Emperor.

He lit his cigar as he left. He still had a job to do. His life and freedom depended on it.

* * *

An hour later, Raynor and Horner came to the bridge, answering the call from Naga. "How's Noah?" Raynor asked.

"Still unconscious." Naga replied "We will be out of action fo a while. We'll follow you, but we'll not be joining you on the ground."

"But aren't you the second in command?" Raynor questioned.

Naga shook her head. "I only know how to fly ships, not leading an army. A squad, I can manage. However, our morale is in all times low. We… need some time to recover"

"I understand" Raynor said "We'll be going to Tarsonis soon."

"We'll plot the course there" Naga acknowledged. "Exodus out"

Raynor turned to Horner. "Sir. I've uncovered what I can on our guests."

"And?" Raynor was waiting for an explanation.

Horner inhaled. "The X-ray did attacked Earth. In fact, they did subjugated it for 20 years, only to be driven back by XCOM."

"And where's this XCOM now?" Raynor asked.

"That's the part that I did not understand, sir" Horner explained. "The file just said they… disappeared. Would explain why we never heard of them. UED's cover-ups maybe?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now." Raynor finished. "For now, let's focus on getting to Tarsonis"

"Yes sir" Horner nodded, and began plotting the course to Tarsonis.

* * *

 **GUESS WHAT? I'M NOT DEAD**

 **After a long hiatus, I finally made a going on Avatar of Liberty.**

 **Lately, it had been stressful. Got to take a time off somewhere.**

 **Anyway, NamThunder out.**


	17. THE FINAL X-WAR

Chapter 17 - THE FINAL X-WAR

Desert planet of Tarsonis. The place where the Confederacy ended, and the birth of the Dominion.

Within its orbit stationed the Hyperion and the Exodus. The former was more closer to the ground, as Raynor was monitoring his mission. The latter, meanwhile, remained within the outer atmosphere, keeping distance, but stayed close to the Hyperion.

Then, far from the two, the Avenger appeared.

* * *

A pair of Sectoids were doing maintenance on the psi gate. They were working on the circuits when the gate activated.

"Er… did we told the Hyperion that we're doing maintenance?" said a Sectoid.

The other Sectoid looked at the log. "It's not from them. It's…"

Out of the gate was a Codex. It fell to the ground, stopping its momentum with its arms. It looked at the two and chirped the binary only the aliens could decipher.

"XCOM! Sound the…!"

XCOM operatives appeared from the portal, shooting the Sectoids dead. The Codex disappeared before any could shot it down. It then accessed the ship's system, and sounded the alarm.

"This is Codex 2542! This is not a drill! XCOM has breached into the Exodus! Repeat, XCOM has breached the Exodus!"

* * *

Naga heard the announcement. She grabbed her rifle from under the console. All crew began arming and barricading the bridge.

"Get the Hyperion on comm now!" she ordered.

"Can't!" said the ensign. "Our communications are jammed. We cannot send anything!"

Naga began to assess the situation. She was up here guarding the bridge and the path to Noah's chamber. Tosh was nowhere to be found. Gravac holed up in engineering.

That would leave Biggs.

She called him. "Biggs. You have to get to the hangar. Get a ship and go get Raynor"

"Will try" Biggs said, loading his plasma pistol "Good luck"

She ended the call. Then the Codex appeared in front of Naga. "You must be Codex 2542..."

"Yes, Viper 413150" replied the Codex. "This unit was compromised. This unit succeeded in erasing the Exodus' data, but was caught and disabled shortly after. XCOM found out about it through this unit, and used it to link up with your psi gate. This unit is now ready to receive its punishment"

"Another time. For now, we need all the guns we can get." Naga insisted.

She grabbed a plasma rifle and handed it to her. "We'll talk about this later. And try not to die."

"Affirmative" The Codex answered, taking the rifle.

* * *

Gravac gave his team their weapons. He ordered his men to set up defense near the Elerium reactor. If they lose it, the Exodus would be powerless, becoming nothing but a hulk of metal floating aimlessly in space.

"Seal the door!" he yelled. "No one gets in at any cost! If they do, shoot all of them! I don't care who!"

Cyberdisks began to weld the door. Mutons were rearranging the furnitures inside, making covers and barricades. Sectoids and Vipers loaded their guns, aiming at the door. Heck, he even released Chryssalids and Berserkers from their pens.

This is it. The Last Stand. A defeat here will mean extinction to all of them. He'll be damned before that happens.

* * *

Central and Lily walked out of the portal along with their team. "There goes our surprise" Lily commented on the fact that there was no Codex's remains, and the alarm blaring loudly.

"Alright, this is it. The final battle" Central announced, carrying his BFG. "My team will head to the bridge. Lily, you take your team downstairs to secure the engine room. Let's get this done, people."

* * *

Biggs mapped the closest path to the hangar. He and his small team full of Sectoids ran down the hall. He could hear plasma being fired all around. A few flew just inches away from them.

"Keep on running!" Biggs ordered. They cannot fight like this.

* * *

"Door is locked!" said a Viper. "If they hack it through, it will sound the alarm!"

All pointed their guns at the door. Tension built on every silent seconds passing by. Heavy breath was the only noise.

Naga could feel the crew's nervousness. Some of them never had a chance to fight before. Some had never hold a gun.

Why would XCOM do this? They fled, they surrendered. Yet they came here to exterminate them.

Then Codex 2542 spoke. "XCOM operatives on visual." It said, looking through the surveillance camera. "They are preparing to breach."

* * *

The door of the engineering bay was blasted open. A group of XCOM operatives flooded in, shooting at hostiles. SPARKs marched in as a bulwark, shielding the incoming attacks.

Gravac didn't fear. He kept shooting his gun at the SPARKs. "Send in the Berserkers!" he ordered.

Behind the defensive line, Berserkers roared and charged in. Their rampaging footsteps caused dents in the floor. One grabbed a SPARK's arm and tore it off violently before hitting it with its arm like a club.

But the Berserker was then shot by multiple gunfire. Gravac turned and saw what he hadn't seen for a long time. A small vehicle with mounted machine gun. "A SHIV"

The SHIV suppressed the firing squad. Gravac charged up and bashed it with his gun. Before he could change target and shot the XCOM operatives, he heard a clanking metal, and jumped away. A SPARK had just came behind him and attempted to push.

When Gravac turned around, he looked at the SPARK. A GREMLIN was hovering above it instead of SPARK BIT. Odd, he had to say. "So… you must be Lily Shen"

"I don't think we know each other" Lily replied "And how can you speak like us?"

"Of course not" Gravac answered. "But only your father could build these things. And your GREMLIN was unique. No SPARK had one as a partner. For the second question, we have a translator for that. But I doubt we're here to talk"

"It is" Lily said "I'm on a mission. So you best stay out of our way"

"I doubt it" Gravac implied. "I'm the chief engineer here."

"And so am I" Lily added.

* * *

Biggs couldn't believe what he was seeing. Greenish flame were raging on every spacecraft they had. Many were beyond functional. A few were salvageable. But it was clear they will not be leaving in one.

"Biggs!" said a Sectoid behind him. "All shuttles are gone! What do we do?!"

Biggs turned to him. "Get to the escape pods, and launch them! Raynor will notice something is not right here!"

The team ran back to the hall heading to the nearest escape pods. The faith of the Exodus were heavy on their shoulders.

* * *

The vault door hacked open. Smoke grenades landed in front of it, creating a large puff of cloud cover.

The atmosphere was stronger than ever. Some of the crew's hands were trembling. Their eyes shaken with fear of dying.

The moment they saw something coming out of the smoke, Naga ordered to fire. Plasma rays flew across the room as XCOM fired back.

But there were more rays coming from the XCOM side. A Viper ducked down. "They had a Skirmi-!"

Not a moment after, a hook snatched her and dragged her into the smoke. A hiss sound of death was all that follow. Naga focused on where the hook came from. She aimed the iron sight, and breathed slowly.

And then, she pulled the trigger. The green ray flew out of her rifle and hit her mark through the smoke. Voice augments sound was heard grunting the pain.

Codex 2542 then casted a Psi Bomb directly at the smoke. All operatives in found their guns empty. A XCOM Templar casted a psionic wall in front, blocking the rays. For a moment, the firing reduced.

Then there was a green ray flying at her outside the smoke. "Reaper!" the Codex said, evading the shot.

"The jetpack one?" asked a Sectoid reloading his weapon.

"No! The sniper one! Beheaders and all that!" Naga replied and looked around. Her eyes darted across the room at high speed and alert. XCOM really spared no expense on this mission.

* * *

Central smiled as the diversion team was doing their thing. They hadn't notice him and his team moving through the crossfire and got up to the top deck. They were too busy fighting.

If the salvaged schematic of the Exodus was correct, the captain's quarter should be behind the door he was seeing.

His team set up a breaching procedure. The GREMLIN began hacking through the system. A Ranger stacked up behind him. A Sharpshooter overwatching the door, and two Heavies guarding their back.

"Almost there" said the Specialist. "And done"

The door opened. But before the team could move, they felt a psionic pulse hitting them. However, it rendered them stunned.

But one by one, his squad were executed by a gun fire. The sound of gunshots were similar to bullets. It did made Central wondered. X-ray didn't use bullets. It was outperformed by plasma. Why was one using it?

When Central recovered, he was alone among the dead. He scanned around, looking at the pod containing the Ethereal. It must be the one who did that.

He stepped to the pod, and used the hacking device. It was painfully slow compared to the standard GREMLIN, but still got the job done. With the lid open, he aimed the barrel at the Ethereal, ready to finish it one and for all.

"You should stop doing that, man"

Central froze upon that. A figure unveiled from the cloak, revealing a black Human holding a rifle at him from point blank range. His eyes wasn't radiating purple aura. Clearly, he was not controlled through psionic. He was doing this on his own will.

* * *

Biggs came to the escape pods. The last run had killed his squad by a half. "Alright. Jettison all of them." Biggs ordered.

The team got into the pods, and pressed the launch buttons. The hatch closed tight and the pods were shot out. Their beacons signalled for SOS, hoping for one to find it through the signal.

* * *

On the Hyperion, Adam noticed a ping on the radar. "Sir…" He told Horner. "I'm detecting multiple distress signals around the Exodus."

Horner and Raynor looked outside. The Exodus was in one piece, but multiple escape pods were seen flying away. Something was not right. If they were to evacuate, or even a test run, they should've called them at least. And they couldn't call them either.

It was clear. This was not normal.

"Stetman. Get the Psi Gate warm up" Raynor ordered

A minute later, Stetman replied. "The Psi Gate doesn't work"

It was confirmed that something did went wrong. Raynor dressed up in his armor and gathered his team. They got into his dropship, and flew towards the Exodus' hangar

* * *

"Do you know what this thing is?" Central asked, keeping the aim still "This is an Ethereal. Our enemy. They tried to mass murder us. Why are you siding with it?"

"He help me with my issues." the black man said "I don't see a murderer."

"Are you blind?!" Central shouted "They're monsters! They killed billions!"

* * *

Gravac was sent back, crashing into the wall. His custom-made armor kept him alive, but the damage was very lethal. He could barely stand. He supported himself with his gun, and pushed himself up.

"Get the bomb planted." Lily ordered her team.

* * *

Naga shot the XCOM Reaper, putting him down. However, another shot came from nowhere, hitting her behind.

"Fuck…" She groaned. "Another Reaper."

* * *

Biggs didn't leave" He stayed behind to cover his team. He heard the door got hacked open. He turned around and aimed his gun.

* * *

"You say they commit genocide" Tosh said calmly. "But these X-rays are the last of their kind. Are you willing to commit genocide on others?"

The man in front of him didn't react. "It had to be done. They must die for what they did." His finger touched the trigger. "They deserved it."

Tosh waited for any sound or movement. He was ready to kill this man at the moment noticed, just like what he was about to do to Noah.

"They all deserved to die"


	18. MAKING THEM SEE

Chapter 18 - MAKING THEM SEE

Raynor hoped he wasn't too late.

The dropship managed to land in the hangar full of destroyed ships. Signs of devastation were clearly seen. Blood and scorch marks were everywhere if a corpse was present.

As he and his Marines walked through the interior of the Exodus, they all found one thing.

Humans with strange armor and weapons frozen like a statue.

* * *

Central's BFG was pointing a mere feet away from the Ethereal when it happened all of the sudden. Massive psionic wave pulsed throughout the ship. He couldn't move. No XCOM operatives can. They were stuck in stasis, unable to anything.

Except for the Commander.

The Ethereal got off its pod. It looked at Central, radiation a strong psionic pulse of seething anger.

 **"So you still hunts us to extinction."** It said. However, the voice was strange, yet familiar. Central heard some of them before. The Uber Ethereal. The Elders. It was theirs, yet there were more.

The Ethereal then gazed away toward a wall. However, it wasn't looking at the wall. Central didn't need a psionic power to know.

It was looking at the direction of the Avenger, at the Commander.

 **"It's time to enlighten you, Commander"**

Suddenly, it disappeared in a purple column of light.

* * *

All the crew members of XCOM were in panic. They were stuck in stasis, unable to move a limb. They could not do anything.

Everyone but the Commander.

When Noah arrived at the Avenger's bridge, there was only one movement, which was the Commander turning around. She was just like how the Elder described her. White skin, black hair with a trail of purple, and a scar on the back of her skull, remnant of the chip removal.

The Commander's hand seemed to grab something under the holographic map. The moment Noah moved forward, she whipped a handgun out and shot him right in the chest, far too quick to reflect that damage.

Not that he intended to anyway. Noah was not here to kill the Commander. No, he was here to teach her something.

 **"Smart move, Commander"** he commented **"But we both know that won't be enough to kill an Ethereal"**

He lifted the Commander in the air. His arms reached out to her as if he wanted to squeeze her to death. Once the hands touched her head, he spoke.

 **"Now we will force you to see!"**

Then for the first time ever, her mind was assaulted by the might of the Ethereal.

* * *

 _It was like that dream. The dream she spent 20 years dreaming with a chip buried halfway in her head._

 _A vast and voided landscape dawned before her. The sky filled with swirling purple lines, indicating psionic presence all around._

 _ **"Commander"**_

 _The Commander looked around, panic in her eyes. Here, unarmed and alone against an Ethereal in a domain where physical strength meant nothing. In other words, she was fucked._

 ** _"Time for you to learn"_**

 _When she turned around, she was met with a gripping grasp of the Ethereal spirits. There wasn't just one. There were many, and a few she had met before._

 _The surrounding collapsed, and a new one was built. An image of a planet she had not seen before._

 ** _"This was our home. Its name was long forgotten"_**

 _The image transitioned to the surface. Ethereal, familiar kind and different one, wandered about the street. They interacted and socialized._

 ** _"All was happy, and all was good. Until He came"_**

 _The vision zoomed to the Ethereal looking up into the sky. A massive form could be seen watching down on them._

 ** _"He came with a proposal, a promise to ascend us"_**

 _The image switched to a picture of an agreement. The Ethereal shaking hands with an unknown creature the Commander had never seen before._

 ** _"But we could not take his gift"_**

 _The image now showed a body pit filled with a shrivelled up corpses of the Ethereal. Some had a twisted feature foreign to them. Above the pit was the same unknown creature, holding another creature in its hand._

 ** _"Deemed us unsuitable, he planned to eradicate us."_**

 _The Commander now saw a scene she could matched with the Humans during the Invasion. Ethereals panic and ran as their home were being destroyed. Some stayed and fought the losing war. Others ran and left the planet._

 _The vision came to the Ethereals looking at their homeworld from their ships, watching it crumbled into nothing but hunks of rocks._

 ** _"And that's the tale of our Exodus. Since then, we seeked allies to fight the Great Threat"_**

 _Now, a series of images consisted of the Ethereal making contact to other species under their command: Sectoids, Vipers, Muton, etc._

 ** _"But at that time, the leaders took the aggressive way."_**

 _Then came the images of Sectoids being subjugated psionically, Mutons losing the war, Vipers surrendered due to mass murder of their males. The Commander felt sick. How could one forgive them for this?_

 ** _"Until we found you"_**

 _Now the Commander saw the familiar sight. Humans under attacked. XCOM fighting. The Temple Ship destruction._

 ** _"You won. You have defeated us. The Elder deemed you to be able to defeat Him. Therefore, they wanted you to lead us all. Yet… you refused."_**

 _The image now showed Central taking the Commander from stasis pod, followed by the return of XCOM, and their final assault on the underwater facility._

 ** _"You wanted to kill us all. You left everything behind to kill us, even when we have surrendered"_**

 _Then everything darkened_

* * *

The Commander opened her eyes. A pistol was in her hand, and it was pointing at the Ethereal's forehead. Its hands were holding the barrel.

"Now you have a choice, Commander." It said "Are you willing to commit genocides? Or are you better than this?"

The Commander's thought wavered. The Ethereal must die for their crime against Humanity. They must.

But then she looked at herself. She brought an army to finish off the remnant of the aliens. They were about to commit genocide, just like what the Elder did to them.

XCOM was not about exterminating aliens. It was about protecting the Earth. They already succeeded, yet they pushed further, putting themselves as low as them. If he keep this up, she would be no different to the Uber or the Elders.

She lowered the gun immediately, and stowed it away. "Wise choice" said the Ethereal. "But you have to tell them all. It's time for you to speak, Commander"

The Commander nodded. She made her way to the microphone, passing her frozen crews who witness the entire thing. She switched the announcement to on, and for the first time, she spoke.

"All XCOM operatives. Cease action. Your orders are to stand down and return to the Avenger. That's an order."

* * *

Central could feel the stasis wearing off. He turned around immediately, planning to kill the black man and get back to the Avenger so he could kill that damn Ethereal. It must have possessed the Commander, it must have.

But what was facing him was not the black man. He was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a squad of bulky armored soldiers were pointing guns at him. The one in front was the most stood out, having a black armor instead of blue like others.

"I suggest you listen to your Commander, whoever you are" said the person in the black armor, the skull visor lifted up and revealed a Human face. "If you knows what is good for you. And we are going to talk about this"

* * *

 **GOOD GOD, THE HARD PART IS OVER... SORTA**

 **I got to tell you, writing this and the last chapter put me on a pause for a while. It was difficult tried to come up with the fighting sections.**

 **Anyway, enjoy. NamThunder out**


	19. THE AFTERMATH

Chapter 19 - THE AFTERMATH

The brig of the Hyperion was rarely use. Raynor took no prisoners throughout his campaign. It was left empty for years until now.

Horner inspected these prisoners. According to the X-rays, they were XCOM, the Human organization assigned to fight the aliens. And it seemed to match their last agenda; assault the Exodus and finished off the X-ray.

In the cells were XCOM soldiers. Some have different kind of outfit, and some have different kind of face. Those that had grappling hook and some sort of jack on their wrists had a face that was quite similar to the Sectoids, with additional wrinkles and more humane faces.

Horner remembered that Gravac mentioned about the SPARKs, massive robotic units with a size of the Firebat and Marauder. They had to be put in an empty hangar, and left Swann in charge of securing them.

The door opened. Raynor walked up to him. "How's Noah and his people doing?"

"Not too good sir" Horner explained, speaking with worry. "The assault on the Exodus put them on a setback. About a half of his men dead, and a quarter were injured. They won't be getting back longer than before"

"What about our guests?" Raynor continued.

"DNA test confirmed that they are Human like us, although some of them came with some anomaly." Horner answered. "But what surprises everyone was their technology. They had plasma weapons like the X-rays, with some improvisations and designs the 21st century could provide. I would say it was rather odd."

"How so?" Raynor questioned.

"Well, if XCOM managed to build plasma weapons, how come it wasn't known to us." Horner pointed out. "And even then, whatever X-ray left behind should have been known to us. How come it was not?"

"UED cover up, I say" Raynor assumed "They were very anti-alien compared to us or the-"

Before he could finish, a loud argument blared out from a deeper cell. In the said cell was Tygan, Central, and the Commander. Lily wasn't present due to her status as a SPARK. The scientist sat down idly watching the central officer and the commander arguing. None of them seemed to noticed the pair outside the cell.

"What were you thinking, Commander?!" Central said "Have they got into your head?!"

"They did!" Commander shot back "But my mind is not controlled. They let me order the surrender at free will. No mind control is involved. If it does, I doubt we would be having this argument"

"Why though, Commander?" Central asked. "Why you ordered it? You know what they did to us. You saw what they did to us. To you too."

The Commander sighed, her hand massaging his temple. "Central. Why was XCOM initiated?"

"To fight the aliens, and protect the Earth" Central replied. "What about it, sir?"

"That is what this is about" The Commander explained "We've done with what we were meant to do. Fight the aliens and protect the Earth. But look at us now. We came here to kill them all. To their last drop of blood. We let the 20 years grudge consumed us, driving us to kill them all. We became just like them. They came to us to kill us all back then, and now we came to them to kill them all. If we continue, we're no better than ADVENT or those Ethereals we fought with."

"But still… they deserve…" Central was about to continue, but his words slowly trailed away into nothing.

A cough interrupted them, catching their attention. Raynor stood in front of the cell. "So, care if one of you tell me what you guys are doing here?"

* * *

Gravac watched the Terran Medics doing their job. His wound was recovering, and it didn't bother him much. Being a Muton had its perks.

But Biggs was worse to wear. He was literally shredded. He was shot in many places. He was bleeding too much. Nothing can be done but prolong his short remaining life. The medics estimated that he will die before the next day would come. They left giving the two a moment alone.

"Hey Biggs" Gravac greeted.

"Hey Gravac" Biggs moaned. "You don't look so good. Are you here to say goodbye?"

"If it was Human saying, I would say 'like shit'" Biggs spoke. "Damn. Plasma burns and pierces."

Silence fell upon them. The heartbeat monitor's rhythm was getting slower.

"I've finished it, you know" Biggs broke the silence. "The Lazarus Amp. I left it in the lab" He turned to Gravac "It's now… yours"

"Biggs…" Gravac stuttered.

"Don't" Biggs replied "I've done all I could. I guess… I deserved a rest…" With his head rested on the pillow, and his eyes closed, a long beep from the heartbeat monitor was the only sound in the room. The Muton Engineer saw no need to stay any longer, and left, carrying one more load of grief in his heart.

Head Scientist Biggs is dead.

* * *

Gravac entered the lab, looking at the table where his late research partner once worked. Various research papers strewn about on top of it. They all surrounded a device set on it, a modified Sectoid psi amp with a note taped on it.

 _Dear Gravac, Noah, and Naga,_

 _This is it. I've poured everything I had to perfected the Lazarus Amplifier. Tested it on another Faceless again myself. And the device didn't blew up, fortunately. Unfortunately, most of the target must be organic. With implants, it would still work. But augmented body parts will not. Because of this, I'm afraid that the Archons and the Overseers cannot be resurrect. It is still possible to revive the Andromedons, although their bodies must be submerged in acid before the procedure can begin. Once done, they can be put in their environmental suit as usual. I hope this will give us all a newer chance in life._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Sectoid 81995, Head Scientist of the Exodus, Biggs._

He grabbed the Lazarus Amplifier. Mutons were heavily susceptible to psionic. He could already feel its power, levelled to those of Sectoids. This was Biggs' legacy, his final work, his final dedication to the Exodus.

Gravac knew what he had to do.

* * *

Raynor folded his arms. His head nodded, listening to the talk told by XCOM Commander, but his eyes never left the woman. The information seemed to match with Horner's findings on XCOM. All from why they were initiated, to the end of the Elder's rule.

They were no longer at the cell. They were in the interrogation room. Only Central and Tygan accompanied the Commander.

"And here we are" the XCOM Commander finished her story.

"That's quite a story" Raynor commented. "So you were given the green light to eliminate the X-rays. But what then? Earth is not what you know anymore."

"What do you mean?" Central looked up, hearing the talk.

Raynor sighed. This will be a long one. "Well… Earth is now run by the UED. 500 years ago, they exiled a lot of criminals in spaceships, sending them away in all directions. One of them came here, the Kropulu Sector. Everyone here are all descendants of those convicts. A few years ago, the UED came. We fought, and they fell back away from us. We all know they will be back in the future, and I'm certain that they won't acknowledge you. They were very anti-alien. With those plasma weapons of yours, and some more… different men in your rank, they would rather kill you and take your stuff than talk it out."

The three top members of XCOM took the information in. The government of Earth they knew wouldn't do that.

"Commander" Horner spoke up. "I just got more information regards of our new friend" He looked at the secret of the tablet he was holding. "XCOM… was disbanded, or I would say purged, sir."

This conversation caught most of the XCOM's ears. Earth just dismissed them like that? After 20 years of fighting for the Earth's populace and independence, they just removed XCOM and forgot them like nothing ever happened?

Horner continued. "The government did not want the alien technology lying around for anyone to make use of it. Therefore, they began to hunt down anyone who was associated with X-ray and XCOM in anyway. Any traces of them are gone, and they began redeveloping their own technology. Guess that how UED came to be"

The Commander collapsed on her knees. For 20 years, she and her men fought for Earth, to the point they made an all in gamble twice, thrice if count this one, only to be eliminated by the people he fought for. If she was to stay on Earth… she and her men would've been purged along with the others. They would have died for fighting aliens with their technology.

"They just got rid of us like that… After what we've done...?" Central was barely grasping on the truth. He wanted it to be a dream. Maybe he was being under the Ethereal's mind control or something. However, reality was always a pain to everyone.

Tygan couldn't form a word. He had betrayed Humanity once during his time with ADVENT. As a man of fact, he was never religious, but if this is karma, fate was too cruel on all of them.

"So… what now?" Central asked. They couldn't go home, and had nowhere else to go. They left everything behind, and had truly lost everything.

But before anything could continue, Ariel ran in. Her breath ragged from exhaustion. Her face was filled with dread and fear. "Jim! We have a problem! I've lost contact with my people on Haven!"


	20. A DIFFERENT KIND OF TERRAN

Chapter 20 - A DIFFERENT KIND OF TERRAN

The Hyperion, the Exodus, and the Avenger in tow, arrived outside of Haven's system. The former two tried to contact the colony anyway they could, but it was futile. Nothing could connect with the people below.

Ariel was on pins and needles. There were so many worst case scenarios running wild within her imagination. What if there was another Virophage outbreak? What if it was raided by pirates? What if the Zerg decided to come after them again? There were so much possible worst case scenarios her fingers clenched hard on her tablet, which held her research so far on the cure for the Virophage.

Raynor had his own suspicion, one that he always thought it was a possibility. Haven was bordering with the Protoss territory. Given that these people had a run in with the Virophage, and the long bloodshed between the Zerg and Protoss, he feared for the worst.

Noah stood beside him, voicing his concern. " **I fear this is not just a simple communication lost"**

"I just hope it isn't what I think it is" Raynor wished.

"Care to share what are you thinking?" The Commander asked.

"Either the colony is completely infested… or worse" Raynor pointed out.

Meanwhile, Horner was paying attention to the travelling course. They were getting closer to Haven, yet nothing was coming through the communication logs.

"We're almost to Haven, but there's still have been no contact from-" as he spoke, the ship's alarms sprang to life. "Sir, there's a Protoss fleet holding orbit! They're disrupting all communications to the surface! And it looks like they are powering up their main weapons!"

Ariel's face expressed terror. Her people had just found a safe planet to stay, and now they were about to be eradicated by the Protoss. "Jim! you have to stop this!" she pleaded.

Raynor nodded. Out of all Terrans, he was the one they respected the most. Perhaps they will listen to him. "Matt, open the channel to the Protoss" he issued the order "Let's see how diplomatic they are feeling"

The comms lit up. The screen showed a female Protoss dressed in her golden outfit that represented the Dae'laam, the Protoss faction that belonged to Hierarch Artanis, who Raynor knew and befriended with during the time of Aiur's fall.

"En Taro Tassadar, James Raynor" said the Protoss "I am Executor Selendis. Your bravery and service to Aiur are known to us"

"En Taro Tassadar, Selendis." Raynor replied "Listen. With all due respect, your fleet need to pull back. The people on Haven are no threat to you"

"Our Observers detects Zerg's hive spores infesting the colonists. They must be purified" Selendis informed. Her tone of voice showed she was clearly unwilling to back down. "If you wish to undertake this mission in our stead, we will permit it"

Dr. Hanson walked up to Raynor. Her heart was beating fast. Her grip on the tablet increased by a slight margin. The message was clear. The fate of the colonist was in his hands.

"Jim, some of my people are infested but you can't let the Protoss destroy them all!" she said "If you keep the Protoss at bay, I know I can find a cure for the infestation"

"The only cure for Zerg infestation is purification by fire" Selendis argued "You know this to be true, James Raynor"

"I can cure them Jim! Believe me!" Ariel spoke.

"If you choose to resist us, we will meet in glorious combat" Selendis warned, her glowing eyes seemed to stare deeply into Raynor's soul. "The choice is-"

The alarm flared up again. "Sir! I'm detecting an increase in Zerg activity!" Horner informed.

" _Incoming transmission"_

Another screen lit up, now showing a massive army of Zerg. They gathered about in one of the infested colony. However, one figure stood out more than the rest.

It was a Broodmother.

"I am Broodmother Kagaya" it spoke. "This planet belongs to the Swarm now. Run while you can. Nothing will stop us. You shall fall before the Swarm"

The transmission ended right there and then. Selendis turned back to Raynor and continued where she had left off. "Regardless, the colonists are infested. We will purify them along with this new Zerg threat. The choice is your, James Raynor"

Ariel was now fully horrified. Her people were now surrounded by both Protoss and Zerg. With the X-ray crippled, Raynor would only have enough forces to fight against one front, not two.

Raynor was aware of this as well. He cannot afford to fight on two fronts. If he decide to destroy the settlements, he will get overrun by the Zerg. If he decide to protect the colonist and faced the Zerg, the Protoss will purify all colonists and his army. He would need another army to save Haven.

And he knew just who that has it. "Commander. We might need your help on this one"

* * *

At the evacuation site, Raynor set up his base. The Protoss had sent down a Mothership to the south, and had overpowered its shield using three Nexuses. However, they spent most of their time destroying buildings, abandoned or not. They will wipe everything clean of infestation.

However, to the north, swarms of Zerg were coming in. Light defenses had been set up to the three choke points that led to the evacuation site. Raynor left this job to XCOM.

As the Avenger landed on the northern sector of the evacuation site, colonists awed at the strange design of the ship, and the fact that its crew were all Terrans. They had never seen one of this design before. Did a new Terran faction rose up without the Dominion noticing them?

The Commander and Central looked down on the battlefield from the bridge. "So what's the plan?" Central inquired.

"All right" The Commander explained "We are to hold these three points. If the Zerg got through these lines, the colonists are doomed. We have to hold the line until Raynor is done with his battle. Then we can proceed in eradicating the Zerg and this Broodmother." She tapped the table a few times. "What do we have in our arsenal?"

"Well, after the failed assault, the X-rays had confiscated our top and mid tier weapons and armor from us. They say they'll let us use them again once they trust us enough" Central informed "We'll have to make do with bullets, SHIVs, kevlar armor, GREMLIN Mk.I, and our men for now. In addition, Shen just came up with a schematic for an Airbase. That way, we could build more Skyrangers to transport our troops to the front."

"Yeah, we could use more than one of those planes" The Commander agreed. Each of the defensive points were split by chasms. One would have to walk around to reach from point to point. With the Skyranger, this will not be a problem.

"Well, we've hold the line against Chryssalids before" the Commander said "Might as well do it again. Let's do this"

-0-

On each of the points, a team of six stood, consisted of one Sharpshooter, one Specialist, two Heavies, and two Rangers. They positioned themselves behind cover, ready to shoot at the incoming Zerg. Two SHIVs stood a few meters apart, and apparently, they were hulling down into a defensive posture, a new addition made by Lily.

"I wonder what the Zerg looked like" a male Ranger asked.

"You tell me" said a female Specialist, her GREMLIN flew close to her. "But I heard that they are something you don't want to see ever again"

"Where did you get that from?"

"The colonists. They clearly had met them before if this Raynor did saved them from the Zerg"

"Can the chatter, people" said a Heavy who was going through his inventory of grenades "We'll see them soon enough."

The Sharpshooter looked through his scope. "I think I see them. Lock and load!"

All personnel became on guard. Their weapons readied, aiming at the incoming swarm of Zerg. And the amount was massive. Even Chryssalids don't reproduce this fast.

"God damn…" murmured the Ranger. "That's a lot"

"No matter what, soldiers" said the Heavy with a rocket launcher. "Hold this line at all cost."

Once the Zerg came into view, their screeches were intervened by the sound of gunfire and explosions. The battle had begun

* * *

Raynor watched as a squadron of Viking fighters sped away to one of the Nexuses. He kept a constant eye on the Protoss Mothership, which was slowly approaching the settlement nearest to its course.

"Incoming Transmission"

A pop up came, showing the Commander's face. "The Zerg had began their assault. My men will hold our line as long as we can."

"I hear you" Raynor replied "We'll be there once the Protoss is dealt with. Don't let them through"

* * *

The battle dragged on. On Raynor's Raiders side, the battle was like another day at work. They had just finished taking out the last Nexus, and now all the Vikings were flying toward the Mothership. Knowing how much punishment it could take due to its massive shield capacity and strong hulls, they needed to pour everything they got at it, especially when it was looming just a few hundreds of meters away from the base.

Meanwhile, on the XCOM side, shell castings and empty magazine clips fell to the ground non-stop. The barrels of the SHIVs were glowing red hot. The Zerg were relentless in their offense. At first, it was only Zerglings. But as time ticked by, stronger variants of the Zerg were being included. Soon, XCOM operatives began to suffer acid burns from the Roaches, and Banelings if they survived the initial blast. GREMLINs did their best in attending the wounds. However, the hail of Hydralisk's sharp projectiles sometimes struck at it, downing it in some occasions.

Then there were the Aberrations, massive centaur-shape Zerg that seemed to be a mutated version of the Infested Terrans. Their massive bodies towered above the other Zerg, with enough space for one to walk under.

"Eat grenade, you bugs!" shouted a Heavy, bringing out the grenade launcher and fired it at a swarm of Zerglings that was running with an Aberration. The grenade impacted the floor beneath their feet, blowing up the swarm into pieces. The Aberration, however, kept on walking.

And to make the matter worse, the Skyrangers were getting attacked by the flying flock of Mutalisks. Some were shot down before they could get to their dropzone. It came to the point where they had to use the Combat SHIVs to help escorting the transport aircraft.

From the bridge of the Avenger, the Commander and Central knew the odds of success were getting lower as time went by.

"We're about to lose Point C! Reinforce the defense there at once!" the Commander issued the order. "And get some SHIVs build and secure route for our Skyrangers!"

Meanwhile, the communication channel was booming with messages, varying from shouts to screams.

"This is Point A! There's too many of them! We could use some more of the Heavies!"

"Where's a flamethrower when we need one!?"

"Die you bugs! Get off him!"

"They got me! It's burns!"

"Shit! I've been hit!"

"Man down! No!"

"Point B here! We're taking losses! We need replacements!"

Central tapped his fingers on the table. "Good god…" He watched the slaughters. He may have fought Chryssalids himself before during the twenty years of guerilla warfare against ADVENT, but the Zerg were entirely a different story. "There's no end to them"

The Commander nodded. She had to agree. They cannot hold those point any longer. "All operatives! Fall back to base! We'll make our stand there!"

She continued to watch the battlefield, seeing her men obliged to her order to retreat. "Hurry up, Raynor" she pleaded quietly. "We can't hold much longer"

* * *

Raynor watched as the Viking squadron literally eradicated the Protoss Mothership. Finally, it is done. Now it is time to focus on the Zerg.

"Alright, let's go help XCOM." he declared.

* * *

An XCOM Heavy poured every bullet at the charging Roach. It took the entire clip of the cannon just to put it down. "There's no end to them!"

"Just keep holding it!" Shouted a sharpshooter who had switched to his revolver. The Zerglings were coming in increase and relentless numbers. He couldn't get a break.

"Come on!" shouted a XCOM Ranger. She had already brandished her sword. "Bring it on!" she began charging toward the slithering Hydralisk and began slicing it.

Then they heard it. A flock of flying Zerg was coming towards them. They were about rain down on XCOM's defenses.

But their screeches were soon muffled by the sound of rockets and jets. Vikings flew overhead, decimated hostile air forces before they could inflict anymore damages.

"Alright Commander." Raynor spoke on the comms. "We'll handle it from here. Your boys deserves a break"

* * *

Within the Avenger, the Commander literally slumped into the chair. The battle really forced her to rethink many strategy. She was well suited for guerilla warfares, but when it came to the war of attrition, it was an entirely different story.

"Finally… it's over" Central said.

"Yeah… I could use some painkillers" The Commander added.

* * *

 **Lily Shen Barrack report**

New Unit unlocked: **Worker SHIV**

Cost: 50 Minerals

SHIV outfitted for construction, mining, and harvesting gases. They were faster than our Combat SHIV, but they had weaker hull and lack any weapons to defend itself. However, it can do repairs much faster than the X-ray's repair drones and Terran SCVs.

New Unit unlocked: **Combat SHIV**

Cost: 100 Minerals

This is XCOM's standard SHIV. Apparently, the blueprint wasn't lost in the remains of the XCOM's base. However, I decided to apply some changes on my father's design. Now they can hull down, increasing its defense, attack range, and firepower, but traded with immobility.

New Unit unlocked: **XCOM Sharpshooter**

Cost: 150 Minerals, 50 Vespene

Sharpshooters are specialized combat unit at medium to long range with their sniper rifles. They are also good at using sidearms.

New Unit unlocked: **XCOM Heavy**

Cost: 150 Minerals, 50 Vespene

Don't let the name fool you. They might be hauling heavy weapons, but they were not slow. They could keep up with our Specialists and Sharpshooters just fine.

New Unit unlocked: **XCOM Specialist**

Cost: 150 Minerals, 50 Vespene

Specialists are armed with GREMLINs to assist them in battle. They can swapped its programming to be either a medic drone or a combat drone.

New Unit unlocked: **XCOM Ranger**

Cost: 150 Minerals, 50 Vespene

Short range specialist. They are trained to use shotguns and blades. Their mobility is unmatched among our soldiers.

New Unit unlocked: **Skyranger**

Cost: 200 Minerals

It came to our attention that one pilot is not enough. Therefore we began to train more pilots to fly our aircrafts and spacecrafts. As usual, our Skyrangers are mainly used for transporting troops across the field at high speed.

It also came to my attention that we might have to modify the Skyranger's design to have some offensive abilities. Perhaps make it a bomber as well?

* * *

 **Lily Shen Construction report**

New Building unlocked: **Avenger** \- One and only command center of XCOM. Train SHIVs here. Collect resources. If the ship suffer too much damage, it will lifted off into the orbit to perform emergency repairs.

New Building unlocked: **Training School** \- Train standard infantry unit here

New Building unlocked: **Airbase** \- Construct aircraft here. Only four aircrafts can be stored per one airbase

New Building unlocked: **Vespene Derrick** \- Allow Vespene gas to be harvested by Worker SHIVs

* * *

 **One word. Finally.**

 **I was trying to combine the mission Safe Haven and Haven Fall together. This was one of the reason why this chapter was slow to come.**

 **Also, introducing the XCOM faction. Trying to blend them in with Starcraft mechanics was a bit difficult.**

 **Still, I'm glad this chapter is done.**

 **NamThunder signing out**


	21. LOOKING AT THE END

Chapter 21 - LOOKING AT THE END

"It's been a while since they looked into that thing"

Central, arms folded, watched as the three commanders stared at a strange device called the Ihan Crystal. It had been two hours since then, and yet they were not done. He did try to get the Commander's attention, but she was frozen, like a statue. The only commotion in the room was Stetman being occupied in his work of science. And the gentle hum of the Artifact pieces.

Since Haven was safe, Dr. Hanson decided to leave the Hyperion and returned to her people. She was glad they decided to help them, and gave thanks to Raynor, Noah, and the XCOM Commander.

"There's nothing wrong with them" Horner pointed out. "Jim and Noah had done this before, and they spent hours watching those memories"

"Of whom?" Central asked.

"One of Raynor's friend" Horner answered shortly. Central doesn't need to know who Zeratul is, considering that the Dark Prelate was a wanted man to the Protoss and how he always show up out of nowhere, and leave as fast as he came.

Central folded his arms. He thought back to the memory of the operation on Haven. "Back on Haven… did you got rid of the Zerg?"

"We did, but the Broodmother escaped." Horner answered. "Odd, considering how the Zerg never retreat. That thing would've made it back to Zerg space by now."

"Still, it's a goddamn nightmare fighting them" Central voiced his opinion. His hands tightened around his arms as he recalled the memory. "I've personally fought aliens for twenty years. I've seen people forced to shoot each other. I've seen Chryssalids bursting out of dead people. But the Zerg… I couldn't just get it out of my head."

"Well, that's the Zerg to you" Horner told him "A nightmare you would never forget"

Central sighed. "I need a drink"

Horner nodded. The two second-in-command officers then left the lab.

* * *

In the engineering bay of the Avenger, Lily Shen was released from detainment. She and Gravac were having a conversation. The former was doing maintenance on some of the GREMLINs, while the latter was looking at the blueprint of one.

"So you became a SPARK…" the Muton was, to a degree, impressed. "Never thought it is possible to transfer consciousness into mechanical body"

"To be honest, I was the first" Lily explained. "Five hundred years is a long time, and Humans will never live that long. However, someone had to look after the rest of the crew. I have to be the one to do it"

"That's brave of you, but still risky." Gravac said "To use yourself as a test subject..."

"Actually, it was ADVENT's experiment. It's a side project of the AVATAR based on our MECs. But it was never tested." Lily mentioned "I just used the data they have to complete their work. But their work…"

"Unethical, I know, or just know" Gravac agreed. It was true that it was only recently that they became more aware about ethics and morals of their past actions.

"I never thought I would hear sympathy from a Muton" Lily added.

"I never thought you would be as reckless as a Berserker" Gravac shot back.

The two laughed at each other's attempt at humor. Behind her, another SPARK was hauling a box full of metal scraps and electronic circuits. It turned to the two head engineers, more focused on Gravac. "So we're inviting the Muton filth on-"

"Julian, get back to work" Lily groaned, annoyed by that voice.

"Why should I -" The SPARK named Julian stopped in the middle of its sentence before continued with a complete change in the tone of voice. "Yes, Lily Shen" It then returned to hauling the box out of the engineering bay, presumably to the Proving Ground.

"Is that Julian?" Gravac asked.

"Yes, why did you ask?" Lily questioned.

"There was a rumor that your father built an AI in the facility he was in prior to its loss of communication. Was it true?" Gravac said.

Lily nodded. "How did you know that?"

Gravac looked left and right. "My team was sent there to gather anything we can. We heard that voice, and it sent mechanized unit prototype at us non-stop. We couldn't gather much, since most of the things we needed were upstairs, beyond any way of access and we were forced to retreat. Can't really forget that. A few that survived was haunted by that experience, and were executed as they were deemed useless."

"That would be the voice" Lily explained "One reason why you couldn't explore the upper levels was because it housed my father's last gift: the very first SPARK. Julian planned to upload himself into that one, but he never saw that my father had already uploaded one into it. We got into a fight, and we won. I decided to upload him in. After all, he was one of my father's creations."

"He wasn't always like that, was he?" Gravac asked.

"Need to put a limiter programs in him. Else he would've kill every single person on Earth" Lily concluded.

* * *

Naga stood in the Exodus' bridge. It was still under repair about the last battle with XCOM. It was fortunate that the primary flight controls were not destroyed. Else they would have to stay above Tarsonis for weeks to get it fixed.

Suddenly, a portal appeared beside her, with Codex 2542 coming out. "Viper 413150, this unit has detected a breach within our archive. An unauthorized access was made 39 hours and 14 minutes ago"

Naga paused. That would be before XCOM attacked the ship. "How so?"

"The User ID and password belonged to Sectoid 722625." Codes 2542 informed. "However, Sectoid 723625 was found deceased. Forensics showed that the victim died an hour prior to the unauthorized access." Codex 2542 explained. "Cause of death was blunt force trauma, at the strength of a Muton at estimate."

Naga let the thought rumbled in her cloud. A crew found dead, and his ID was used to access the archive. And the death was no accident. Sectoids may be fragile, but that amount of force…

There was no more uncertainty. "We have a traitor."

* * *

Back in the Hyperion laboratory, the three leaders snapped out of the memories. In chronological order, first was Zeratul seeking the Preservers to decipher the prophecy, but found an unknown lifeform, a Hybrid of a Zerg and a Protoss. Then it was about his search on Aiur to find the Overmind's remains. And finally, they witnessed the vision of a future, an oblivion of all things within the Kropulu sectors.

"So you are saying, that this… whatever controlling the Hybrids… was the reason you came to Earth?" asked the Commander.

" **Not at first, but after the defeat of the Uber Ethereal, we saw the potential that you can defeat this Great Threat."** Noah explained " **But in our species' dying breath, the Elder decided to turn you into our hosts, so we may use your strength to fight the Great Threat ourselves. I have never agree with such plan, but the decision was made, and it cannot be changed. Ethereals may be the highest among the ranks, but the Elder's words supremed over others."**

"That was just mess up" Raynor admitted. "How would that even work?"

" **That was the reason why I disagree."** Noah nodded. " **We should have asked to ally with you, not subjugate you. I apologized on our behalf"**

The Commander folded her arms, turning to the Avatar. "Sorry, but I doubt an apology would cut it" she said, and then left the room in silence. She may have removed the desire for vengeance, but old wounds were yet to heal.

" **I'm well aware that you won't, Commander"** Noah replied, turning away from the door in guilt.

Raynor, who was caught in the middle of the conversation, didn't say anything. These two were literally rivals, just like the Zerg and Protoss. Having them working together would be a challenge. He sighed and headed out to the cantina as usual. He needed a drink or two.

* * *

 **A rather short chapter, I know.**

 **Well, the reason was that I have been in a period that I called the Braindead period, where no ideas came up, and no motivation to write whether am I really vacant to do so or not. That, combined with how many other ideas seemed to dawn to me.**

 **Still, here's the story. Enjoy. Namthunder, signing out**


	22. Just an announcement

**So... hi everyone.**

 **I know I have been a bit idle lately. Heck the latest thing that happened was a story being cancelled.**

 **However, I have been occupied quite lately. A lot of assignments to finish. The final exam coming closer. I have to keep my head clear.**

 **Plus... I began to enter the period of 'overcrowded ideas'. The problem is not the lack of ideas, but rather having too many of them as right now. It spread out uneven, and I couldn't put effort in one of the work properly. So I have to start sorting, determine which is still can be continued, and which that have to go. Please don't be mad at me for this**

 **Regardless, it is guaranteed that Avatar of Liberty will be continued.**

 **That will be all for now.**

 **NamThunder signing out.**


End file.
